Star Wars Nostalgia Can’t Let The Franchise Ever Grow

This was excusable in the prequel trilogy because it was all building up to the original trilogy anyway. But so much of what sunk the sequel trilogy was the refusal to just do something new instead of playing it safe by redoing plot points, character arcs, and tropes everyone had seen 40 years prior. And apparently the latest Star Wars projects still have not learned their lesson, since they continue to try and mine nostalgia.

The only difference is that with The Acolyte, instead of deriving nostalgia from the original Star Wars movies, now it is tapping into nostalgia for the prequels. I suppose that can be called a new move in its own way, but I really don’t think harkening back to a trilogy that is commonly recognized as when the franchise started losing its way is a winning strategy.

While The Acolyte initially excited me by introducing new characters and being willing to step away from the Skywalkers being the focus, it still could not resist staying in the comfortable nostalgia of the familiar.

It reuses locales from the prequels we already know like the Jedi temple, much as so many of the movies and shows reuse Tatooine. And much like the sequel trilogy mimicked the plot of the original trilogy, The Acolyte mimics the plot of the Star Wars prequels, simply shifting the focus of the nostalgia.

In the prequels, the Sith were able to return to power thanks to the Jedi falling complacent and letting their vigilance down. The Acolyte deals with this same issue, which is not necessarily unrealistic, but when the writers could have taken the plot in any direction, it is a bit baffling why they chose another retread.

It really does feel like the once revolutionary nature of Star Wars has now become paralyzed by its obsession with nostalgia.

Even with Ahsoka, that is simply taking a character that was popular years ago and trying to bring fans of her back by now having her in live action. Honestly, it is more than bizarre that I really have to struggle to name the completely original Star Wars movies or shows that have come out since the prequels.

For such a vast, sprawling universe of characters, it makes the Star Wars franchise feel very small to keep connecting everything back to the same batch of nostalgic characters.

I have been waiting my entire life to feel that sense of innovation that the original Star Wars trilogy brought to people who saw it in theaters and it seems I will be waiting a while more yet.

And the sad thing is, based on the patterns we have seen so far, it seems incredibly likely that 20 years from now, there will be new Star Wars projects with nostalgia connections to the sequel trilogy rather than finally moving into new territory.