Thread by @delaneykingrox

The third Star Wars trilogy could have all been about sliding back into the forgotten past.

It could have focused on a peaceful, free galaxy where the foolish- the First Order of Palpatine bring back the Sith via cloning.

The arc would have been about the rise of fascism through glorification and white washing of the past.

With the Sith gone, Luke allows the Jedi powers to fade by hiding their secrets.

Kylo is trying to learn them. Along the way, he falls to the dark side. He continues...

...his worship of his grandfather by seeking to recreate the jedi. Instead he makes the sith.

Thrown out of balance, new Jedi rise in strength. Rey, Finn, Rose.

Without guidance or records of the past, they are doomed to fall to the dark side. Knowledge, education...

...is light. By forming a new Jedi order, they strive to defeat the sith once more.

Building up to reveal that the first order has been preparing an army under the guidance of many weakened Palpatine clones, who await the rise of the true sith... whoever it may be of..

...our heroes.

The arc is strong, starting with smaller struggles in the galaxy and bundling as the first order sweep out. We see the good work of the previous trilogy being undone if new heroes do not rise up.

The lightsaber... like the torch... must be carried.

The first order would be an interesting study in the pull towards fascism that propaganda creates. Whispers in the dark. Calling for anger, hatred, fear.

Sith food.

The arc would be about a free galaxy about to fall into darkness once more. And that would be a strong story.

Kylo is an outsider at first, a mysterious masked figure.

He is a Jedi whose training was stopped after Luke had a vision of the future. He sends the students away and when Kylo returned the temple was destroyed and all the secrets gone.

We start with Leia and key figures from the rebellion now at the new senate- a space station formed from a circle of ships at the hub of the universe, not unlike a death star in a way. But for peace.

Lando is chairman, a role he is exceptional in.

We see the peaceful, fun street markets in the ships. The unity. We see the good work that has paid off in the previous movies.

A statue of a Stormtrooper that says "Never forget."

We learn Luke is missing. We see Ben Solo at her side, seemingly a good guy.

He is concerned for his uncle, and works to track him down. Leia senses his frustration and anger, his sense of abandonment- but has no idea he is Kylo Ren- the mysterious figure hunting Jedi Artefacts and knowledge.

Into this peace we get notes that something is not right. Squabbling, shadowy figures, sabotage. Colonies wiped out.

Something is coming, and The Jedi have abandoned us.

We have no unified armies. We should raise up arms.

You get the idea.

Then it kicks off...

...with the surprise attack on Rey's town. Junkers happily working away dismantling empire war machines. Singing, sharing water. Wondering about that poor abandoned girl.

Then tie fighters appear, wiping them out. New stormtroopers arrive and start to round up...

..survivors and force them to join the order using mind control drugs in probe droids.

The imperial war machines are the goal. They want them to repair and rebuild the star destroyers.

Thus, the death star crash site becomes a key set later for a powerful reason.

By the third film, they have a true star destroyer- using the death star materials and new technologies to channel a sun through the destroyer and wipe out a planet.

It builds to this. This is the big final boss.

The Palpatine clones and the cloned Neosith are weak and rely on machinery to keep them alive- but together they are a real threat.

If Rey or Kylo fall, they will have a new leader who can channel the full power of the dark side, strengthening them all.

Finn is uncorruptable...

He has seen the dark side and rejects it, resists the mind control drugs, and learns to become a leader. He moves to free the stormtroopers mentally, and does so leading a revolt.

Rose is a jedi, but very early in her training- she uses her powers to organise fighters

When the tactical ship is crippled in the last battle, she reaches out and uses her senses to see the entire battle and direct the ships... like Luke switching off his targeting computer.

A powerful scene.

Rey and Kylo are not a romantic paring, but have the potential to be... their relationship represents flirting with the dark side. Kylo seduces her with talk of unity, of the failings of the jedi, and doing things better this time. Not Jediz not Sith... something new.

Rey goes dark at the end of episode 2. By three she is the hooded dark force foreshadowed.

She remains dark for most of three, but pulls herself back from the dark side after a duel with Luke.

It is revealed Luke was dead all along, and the fight was in her mind with his ghost

In a reversal of the Degobah cave scene.

The final film shows the first order ready to spread out and seize the galaxy... but with Rey turning back, the four join forces against the clones and a final fight ensues.

The true star destroyer is destroyed by Leia's sacrifice.

We end with the heroes having survived and the Galaxy saved, and the important lesson that one must educate and guard against evil.

There will always be Sith. So there must always be Jedi ready to face them. Humble. Kind. Brave.

Rey starts the new Jedi Academy as force...

...ghosts look on.

The last line:

REY

It Surrounds us. Penetrates us.
It ties us all together.
All life.
All beings.
Light and dark.
May the Force Be With Us.
Always.

Also Finn and Poe are in love.
Rey is ace.
Han and Leia are still together, but her work means they rarely see each other. He hates politics and is much better as a general sorting out squabbles.

He is investigating the first order strikes with his team...

... The Falcon was lost in a battle after Return, everyone escaped but the engine was gone and so it was in the imperial junk yard.

Rey had found it and was living in it, rebuilding it in secret. She had it buried under tarps and sand.

Which is why she knows it like the back of her hand, and knows how to fly it (in theory) as she had access to the computer.

Which is voiced by Pheobe Waller Bridge after Rey's work.

When Han and Chewie are attacked, she guides them to her cave and... well, magic moment.

Picture Han, Chewie and some former rebels being ambushed by Stormtroopers. Rey shows up and tells them she has a hidden ship. Able to carry everyone off.

An action sequence takes them to her cave and then she switches on the lights. Then bangs the console. And Han's face.

..when the lights come up?

We see her small, dark hovel is infact the main room of the Millenium Falcon.

The Stormtrooper that helps them escape is Finn. They tie him up to be sure, but he explains the First Order is forming.

Much more connected and intense sequence.

Han talks of destiny and of the Force, in a reversal of his sceptical take in the exact same spot.

Han: it's true. All of it.

He knows that finding the Falcon is a call to arms. It is time to get Luke back. And he knows where Luke left instructions in case of emergency.

This all flows much smoother and is more tightly connected, and removes a whole sequence to give room for more.

Rey is an engineer, not a pilot. She can fly, but not well. She impresses Han through her love of the Falcon. How it saved her. He can't take her home away.

The seizing of imperial machines in junk planets justifies how the first order have been rebuilding their army.

Outer rim worlds being drenched by propaganda by mysterious hooded figures (failed palpatine clones) after sabotage of water, mines and crops.