Kathleen Kennedy Confirms Star Wars Plans For Sequel Trilogy Characters
By now it's no secret that Disney's Star Wars Sequel Trilogy was divisive at best, and disappointing at worst. One of the biggest criticisms of the characters we met in The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker was that most of them didn't get enough time to feel fully developed – including villains like Captain Phasma (Gwendolyn Christie), Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) or major heroes like Finn (John Boyega) and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac). Well, in a recent interview Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy gave Star Wars fans the nice little tease that the Sequel Trilogy characters are not done yet, and will indeed get more focus in the franchise, going forward.
In a new interview with Empire Magazine about the state of Star Wars, Kathleen Kennedy addressed the future of the Sequel Trilogy characters in no uncertain terms: "Certainly, those are not characters we're going to forget. They will live on, and those are conversations that are going on with the creative team as well."
Star Wars has been doing an undeniable amount of clean-up with the story of the Sequel Trilogy, ever since The Rise of Skywalker came out in late 2019. For fans who only follow the movies: Star Wars comic books and novels (and even guidebooks) have been doing the fill-in on big ST story gaps such as how Emperor Palpatine was cloned; how Snoke was created and controlled; how Ben Solo became the leader of the Knights of Ren; Phasma's origin, etc. That back-fill has been necessary padding of the ST canon, but it's never going to be content that more mainstream fans seek out.
The Sequel Trilogy not only left a lot of Star Wars fans confused about the past: it left them disappointed in the wasted potential for the future. Off-screen, actors like John Boyega have been vocal about how they didn't quite get the character arcs that they signed up for – and many fans have agreed. There's a thirst for Daisy Ridley's Rey, Boyega's Finn, Isaac's Poe, and even secondary characters like Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern) and Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran) to get the spotlight in other features or series where they can get more room (and support) to breathe and grow. And after seeing what Star Wars has done to give characters like Boba Fett new chances (in series like The Mandalorian), it seems like the sky's the limit for what the franchise can still do with the heroes (and villains) of the Sequel Trilogy.
You can stream the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy movies on Disney+.