What Star Wars fans want from the franchise and what Lucasfilm is currently giving them are entirely different, so the powers that be at Lucasfilm and Disney need to understand that something needs to change, and fast. Star Wars is undisputedly one of the biggest and most popular brands of all time. The fanbase is still strong in numbers and is ready to love the galaxy far, far away, but Disney and Lucasfilm don't seem to be on the same page with those fans on what everyone wants to see.
Since the release of The Last Jedi in 2017, Star Wars has felt different, and fans have realized that. Because of how that movie polarized the fanbase, and everyone became rather hostile toward whoever didn't share the same opinion as them, there has seemingly been a disconnect between the fans and Lucasfilm. Essentially, since 2017, it seems as though Disney and Lucasfilm have largely been trying to bring everyone back by just throwing a bunch of nostalgia at everyone and saying, "Hey, remember how much you love this character? Well, here they are! It's great, right?"
This happened a lot in The Mandalorian Season 2, The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Rise of Skywalker, and Ahsoka. The Mandalorian Season 2 featured Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and Luke Skywalker. That season of that show does deserve a bit of a pass, because those characters were brought in rather organically and actually made sense to be in the story.
However, The Book of Boba Fett is a great example of how Star Wars simply relied on cameos and legacy characters to keep fans watching. Part of that series wasn't even about Boba Fett. He didn't even appear in Episode 5 of his own series, and barely showed up in Episode 6. In total, it featured Luke Skywalker, Ahsoka, R2-D2, Din Djarin, Grogu, and Cad Bane. It was almost like Lucasfilm didn't know how to create a compelling Boba Fett story, so it threw in all of those other characters to get fans excited.
Disney and Lucasfilm need to realize that, while it is exciting to see those characters, that's not what fans truly want. Those nostalgia and legacy character stories are kind of like fast food. Fast food tastes great most of the time, and is often best in the moment, but it's not substantial and doesn't leave a lasting impact, and definitely doesn't fill you up for long.
The brands that oversee the galaxy far, far away need to understand that, more than anything, fans want stories that are well-written. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what the characters' names are, if they wield a lightsaber, or what planet they are from. Fans just want good writing, a compelling story, and fleshed-out characters.
Andor and Maul - Shadow Lord are perfect examples of this, and are two of the outliers when it comes to recent Star Wars projects and the quality of all of them. Aside from a few characters, almost everyone in Andor was a new character. However, because of the writing, they quickly resonated with viewers, and everyone cared about them.
Similarly, Devon Izara, Eeko-Dio Daki, Captain Lawson, and Two Boots were all brand-new characters, but they were so well-written that they were extremely compelling, and fans genuinely cared about what was happening to them. If the writing wasn't strong, Devon's Dark Side turn at the end of the season would not have been effective, but because the entire show was written well, her arc across the season already made her one of the best Star Wars characters of all time, and definitely one of the best in the Disney era.
Another good example of how a weak story is a mark of death for Star Wars projects is The Mandalorian & Grogu. Disney and Lucasfilm announced that Star Wars was going to be returning to theaters, which was exciting to many fans since Star Wars, at its core, is a big-screen franchise. However, they essentially cut The Mandalorian Season 4 down into two hours and expected it to succeed solely because Din Djarin and Grogu were the two main characters.
The success wasn't there. The Mandalorian & Grogu is going to finish its theatrical run as the lowest-grossing Star Wars film of all time, which is a nightmare for Disney and Lucasfilm, especially since they considered Solo's box office so detrimental, and The Mandalorian & Grogu won't even reach the numbers that Solo did.
Disney and Lucasfilm essentially thought that people would go to the theater just because Din Djarin and Grogu were the main characters of the movie. That obviously wasn't the case, and is even more evidence that fans want to see good stories and strong writing, and that the characters don't matter.
The mindset of the companies is rather ironic. Din Djarin and Grogu were brand-new characters that were introduced in 2019's The Mandalorian, but they got extremely popular because that show was so compelling. One would assume that Star Wars could look at that and see that new characters can easily become fan-favorites if they are part of a good story, but it seems as though Disney and Lucasfilm still haven't learned that.
It is also worth noting that fans aren't as interested in seeing stories that include the Force, or Jedi and Sith. The Force and its nature were always handled with special care under George Lucas, and he made it clear that, after Order 66, Jedi and Sith were rare parts of the galaxy. Therefore, anytime a Force user came into the picture, it was a really big deal.
However, under Disney's rule, Star Wars keeps changing the lore by introducing more and more Jedi and Dark Side users who survived Order 66. At this point, the Force isn't special or rare, and it feels more like just a regular part of the galaxy.
Fans want to see more stories where the Force isn't even mentioned or showcased. For example, Andor was highly successful, and it didn't even include a single lightsaber or Force user. It would be more beneficial for Disney and Lucasfilm to create more stories in the future where the Force isn't even showcased, so that when it does show up again, it will feel earned.
How Disney and Lucasfilm Can Fix Star Wars
Disney and Lucasfilm are extremely proud companies, and rightfully so. They both have produced some of the most successful and well-loved movies, TV shows, and stories in the history of fiction. However, at some point, they are going to have to climb down and listen to what the fans want, because the fans know what can be successful more than anyone else. As the old saying goes, the customer is always right, and Disney and Lucasfilm need to understand that.
Maul - Shadow Lord saw a lot of success on Disney+, so that show definitely needs to continue. However, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea for Star Wars to completely pull everything else off its future slate and go dark for a while.
Unfortunately, the MandoVerse needs to come to a close sooner rather than later. After Ahsoka Season 2 is released, Star Wars should probably fast-track Dave Filoni's Avengers: Endgame-like project and end the MandoVerse so that it can focus on creating something new.
That being said, it is vital for the future of Star Wars that Disney and Lucasfilm take a lot of time before choosing what will replace the MandoVerse. Although it was previously mentioned that more projects shouldn't include the Force, perhaps the best replacement for the MandoVerse would be an interconnected universe set in the Old Republic era, when the Jedi and Sith were all throughout the galaxy.
The Old Republic has already been explored in Star Wars Legends, so there is already some material for Lucasfilm to pull from, and it is material that Star Wars fans are highly interested in.
It may also be a good idea for Star Wars to take a rather long break from releasing any movies. Even if there were to be a 10-year gap (or longer) between Starfighter (since that movie has already been filmed and needs to be released), that probably wouldn't be a bad thing. Star Wars should have a triumphant return to theaters with a story that fans are excited about, and The Mandalorian & Grogu simply wasn't the exciting story everyone was looking for.
Once again, it would probably be beneficial for Star Wars to look at exploring a new era where no one knows any of the characters.
At the end of the day, Star Wars fans want nothing more than for the franchise to return to its former glory. There is nothing like Star Wars in the whole world, so the franchise can absolutely be successful again. The only question is whether Disney and Lucasfilm are willing to make the necessary changes.
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