Recently, announcements for upcoming Star Wars projects have been released, such as the movie Rogue Squadron and multiple tv series, including Ahsoka, a series showcasing the live-action version of Ahsoka Tano (originally from The Clone Wars) introduced in Chapter 13 of The Mandalorian. These new disclosures into the future of the Star Wars franchise have led many to consider what some people have been thinking since the introduction of the third trilogy: LucasFilm needs to slow down, especially with their movies. Lucasfilm has been cramming Star Wars down our throats for a while now, which is fine for hardcore fans of the series, but for the more casual viewer, it’s a little exhuasting. To make this even worse, the quality of these movies have been, on average, only adequate, filtering through ups and downs for many years. The most recent trilogy of movies, starring Daisy Ridley as Rey “Skywalker,” started off on a fairly good note with The Force Awakens, but quickly slid down a slanted slope beginning with the sequel, The Last Jedi. The recent prequel movie, Solo, while having some fun action and an interesting fast-paced adventure, was much more mediocre in many other respects. This movie could have been a deep dive into the past of one of the most popular characters not only in Star Wars history, but in movie history. Instead it was a more surface level movie, that focused on special effects action scenes instead of taking the extra mile to define a balance between character development and that awesome Star Wars action. If more thought had been put into the story and dialogue, this movie could have gone down among the greats, and it is a shame to see so much potential be squandered.   

This isn’t to say that LucasFilm should stop all Star Wars products. There are a lot of very successful projects that have come out recently in all sorts of formats, which show the thought and care that can still be put into the franchise. An amazing example is the recent success of the masterpiece TV show The Mandalorian. This show comprises a twisting, gripping tale and sci-fi action that canvases how new age special effects can be used to enhance an experience instead of making it feel false, as it so often does in the newer Star Wars movies and the prequels. Another example is the beautiful integration of Star Wars into Virtual Reality with awe-inspiring video games like the Vader Immortal series and Tales From the Galaxy’s Edge for Facebook’s Oculus VR headsets show how good Star Wars can be. These games provide a fun and thrilling campaign, combined with mechanics and design that take full advantage of new virtual reality technology. It all comes down to effort and consideration of quality. If enough time and thought were put into Star Wars, like has been shown with their TV and video game projects, the franchise could be greatly improved. Star Wars has always been an awesome concept, and was  beyond groundbreaking when the first movies came out. It can only get better now with the advancements of special effects and filming technology since the seventies and eighties. If they take a step back with the series, and instead of desperately pumping out every Star Wars brand property possible, put time and thought into a few of them, they could make something fresh and exciting. Something that would both expand the canon, as well as deliver the astounding and interesting action we know this franchise is capable of. Lucasfilm could give the audience a different perspective and new and interesting characters, like in the amazing Rogue One. The galaxy is a huge place, and there are numerous other stories to be told from within it.