The Star Wars universe is jam-packed with content, and while much of the original content is beloved by fans around the world, the sequels and prequels of the original Star Wars movies fell far below expectations, leading many fans to wonder if the Star Wars universe had run its course. The sequels in particular were seen as a wasted potential, considered by many Star Wars fans to be the worst installations in the franchise. According to Inverse, even Mark Hamill has expressed his distaste for the films and certain directions they took. That said, the franchise has since been saved thanks to the efforts of Disney+ and the timely appearance of The Mandalorian.

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The Disney+ series The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett have been praised for saving the franchise from total disaster, thanks to creators Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau. These series have effectively set a new standard for all Star Wars content in terms of character, plot, and development of long-beloved characters like Boba Fett and Ahsoka. Now, the franchise is set to release more upcoming series on Disney+, from the highly anticipated Obi-Wan Kenobi, which will see Ewan McGregor return to the titular role, and Ahsoka, amongst others. What’s more, it’s reported that Lucasfilm is looking to develop a new trilogy set after The Rise of Skywalker. With Lucasfilm restoring its reputation with its Disney+ series, here’s what future Star Wars movies can learn them.

Long-Form Shows Work Better Than Films

     Disney

While the Star Wars franchise began with the original film A New Hope in 1977, the amount of content within the universe reaches far beyond a 90-minute time frame. Thanks to Disney+, it’s been established that the format of a miniseries allows more room for exposition in the Star Wars universe. Without a concrete time constraint, the creators are given more freedom for gradual exposition and allow for smoother character development, as seen in Din Djarin’s character in The Mandalorian when he takes the Child to the First Order, reclaims his Beskar, and decides to take the Child back and take care of him himself. This kind of character development was unfortunately sped up in The Rise of Skywalker to an unrealistic level in which Rey’s character bounces between the Dark and the Light. This expedited depiction of character development may have been prevented if the story had been told more consistently across the entire trilogy. Obviously, the creators at Lucasfilms have taken this on board as the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series was originally meant to be a film, but is now a Disney+ original series.

Appropriate Twists Keep the Audience Interested

     Disney+

Boba Fett’s appearance in search of his armor in The Mandalorian led to a whole lot of new content with a beloved character. The introduction to The Book of Boba Fett simply shows Bib Fortuna sitting on Jabba’s throne before Fett promptly shoots him and takes his place as “Daimyo”, ruling over Jabba the Hutt’s old territory. This was an amazing way to introduce Boba’s own spin-off show. This introduction of new and interesting twists is part of what the sequel films lacked. The few twists in The Rise of Skywalker showing Palpatine “alive” and the reveal that Rey is Palpatine’s granddaughter were mediocre at best. Neither of these kept with the original canon — which is now legend — that Ben Solo was meant to be defeated by his twin sister Jaila and Rey was a totally new character. The attempted shocking twists did not have the impact that producers were hoping for due to the fact that Rey’s character had not developed appropriately up to this point. There was also a lack of interest in the fact that Rey is related to Palpatine as she is not exactly a hero worth rooting for.

Correct Use of Fan Service

     Lucasfilm / Disney

While fan service is a nice addition to any franchise, the moments must be chosen wisely. The failure of the sequels has a lot to do with fan service, particularly in The Rise of Skywalker. The giant appearance of the Death Star, while making fans happy, didn’t make a whole lot of sense as the Death Star probably shouldn’t have been in as good a condition as it was. On top of this, the star destroyers kept underground by Palpatine were a nice addition for fan service, but again made no sense as those ships must have a crew to function, and yet somehow Palpatine raised thousands of these ships without any assistance. An example of good fan service would be the appearance of Ahsoka in The Mandalorian as it ultimately makes sense plot-wise. Another fan-service moment would be the “Mandalorian” symbol seen throughout the series, which is a throwback to the terrorist organization “Death Watch” as seen in The Clone Wars.