The last few years have been especially trying for Star Wars fans. While news of Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm was initially met with joy, the honeymoon was short-lived. The Force Awakens was fine albeit a soulless reboot of the original trilogy. Being the first installment of a new trilogy, you could forgive it for repeating the tried-and-true in an effort to onboard a new generation. However, since then it’s been a very rocky road for the Star Wars galaxy on the big screen.

The spinoff films have been riddled with production issues. Directors have come and gone, reshoots galore — it’s no surprise J.W. Rinzler’s “Making Of” books covering the Disney era have been shut down.

Then there is The Last Jedi. No words can describe the amount of damage this entry in the Star Wars saga has done to the franchise. Rian Johnson’s 153-minute film drew a line in the sand not unlike its most compelling image of a super star destroyer being split in two.

On one side, you have fans celebrating the film for doing its own thing, championing inclusivity, and giving strong female characters agency. On the other side, you have fans outraged over Luke Skywalker’s characterization, Snoke’s ultimate fate, and an ending that feels like the end of a trilogy rather than the middle chapter.

By fueling the culture wars in a desperate attempt to appeal to wokeness, Disney has antagonized its core fanbase and effectively nosedived one of its premier brands into the ground. That wrecked star destroyer on Jakku? The sunken Death Star? Both metaphors for a once-powerful brand.

It’s important to note that while Disney Star Wars has been a failed experiment up until now, Game of Thrones and the Marvel Cinematic Universe have grown more and more successful.

Sidebar — contrarians will point to billion dollar receipts as proof of Disney Star Wars success, however, you could have released ANYTHING with the Star Wars label on it and it would have earned as much; the true story is being told now with the studio taking a 3-year break before its next film after The Rise Of Skywalker. A studio doesn’t “take a break” if it’s tracking to grow revenue with each subsequent release.

As painful as it is to admit, Star Wars currently exists in the shadow of the aforementioned two franchises. But this may be a good thing, since fandom currently has its hands full. Unhappy with Star Wars? Lose yourself in Avengers: Endgame for the third or fourth time, or write blogs and make memes about Khaleesi and her ilk.

To that end, we can pretend Disney Star Wars 1.0 was an expensive test, with the franchise trying hard to be what it’s not. Looking to the future, once the MCU takes a break and Game Of Thrones makes its bloody exit, Disney Star Wars 2.0 should mark the true beginning of a new era. One that learns from its past mistakes, and course-corrects to deliver all the excitement, adventure, and laser sword action worthy of the name Star Wars.

OBLIGATORY DOOM AND GLOOM: Of course, unless the soon-to-be-departing Bob Iger and Kathleen Kennedy apply their learnings to the next phase, we may be doomed to another 10 years of Not Star Wars, with James Cameron and his space cats owning the conversation.

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