What will it take to please Star Wars fans?
Many are distinctly unhappy after Rian Johnsons’s The Last Jedi delivered a divisive movie that many felt betrayed the iconic classic characters and themes of the franchise.
There is huge pressure on JJ Abrams to bring the saga to a close and repair the split in the fandom while threats to boycott Episode 9 continue to rumble from the most aggrieved fans.
It has been reported that the director is committed to bringing back as many original and prequel trilogy characters and motifs as possible but the first response to new photos and leaked storylines from the UK sets is still decidedly mixed.
The new pictures show actors Oscar Isaacs and John Boyega, along with Chewbacca actor Joonas Suotamo and new Episode 9 star Naomi Ackie filming scenes on a windswept, desolate landscape.
Redditor 4LOM has leaked Last Jedi storylines in the past, with some major points turning out to be correct.
His latest post says: “What we’re seeing is actually a reunion between Chewbacca and Poe & Finn; after the events of The Last Jedi the last of the Resistance spread itself across the galaxy in ones and twos to different systems, growing grassroots rebellions from the ground up. Poe and Finn, sent by General Leia, are going from planet to planet retrieving these fledgling groups.”
“The small force we see in photos, shrouded in camo, is part of a paramilitary group led by Naomi Ackie’s character, who has been working with Chewbacca for months to build a homegrown resistance force. She has been described to me as smart and capable, and has immediate chemistry with Mr. Dameron. She leads them back to their base of operations, where I’ve been told we get some exposition that elaborates on the total control the First Order has.”
Responding to the leak, a consensus among many commentators is that it would have been more credible if it came out before the pictures were released. Now everyone has seen Finn, Poe and Chewbacca on a new planet with Naomi Ackie’s character, it is too easy to claim this confirms insider information.
It also chimes with generally accepted views that Episode 9 will have to rebuild the rebel forces back up all over again, after they were decinated in The Last Jedi. Many fans appear to view the prospect with weariness.
A trending opinion is that the idea of a large opening portion of the movie given over to slowly rebuilding the resistance is neither exciting nor necessary and could have been handled in a few comments or brief scenes. Instead the set-up shown in the new photos seems rather major, if that is what is going on.
Comments include; “If this is true these scenes feel somewhat…irrelevant? A waste of screentime, since this could have happened in a short scene, but someone said that the Finn/Poe scene will be long. It makes me felt as if JJ has nothing juicy for these three and is stretching their scenes.”
“This doesn’t sound very good at all. While I know TLJ was a let down to the Star Wars saga, I am keeping my hopes up that there is some redemption is this final chapter.”
“I’m not sure I get the point of even seeing it in the movie. It could have just happened/be almost complete as a plan by the time we get here. It’s inefficient storytelling.”
As is increasingly the case with th efandom, there are also completely opposing views as well as the observation that this simply expands on groundworlk laid in the bridging comics.
“Nice. I hope this is true. Grassroots rebellion is exactly the angle Lucasfilm has been exploring with Rebels and Enfys Nest, so it’d be great to see the ST embrace it.”
“Plus the grassroots stuff adds up with what’s been established in the current arc of the Poe Dameron comic. The rest of Black Squadron has been going to planets hoping to gain help from different systems.”
Whether the leaks are proved correct or not, one thing is clear: it seems an almost impossible task now for anyone to unite the Star Wars fandom in any kind of harmonious accord.
