Fan Hatred Of Star Wars Sequel Trilogy Ignores The Obvious

When it comes to the the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, it’s fair to say that The Force Awakens is most faithful to the earlier movies, and for good reason—after all, it’s basically a soft reboot of A New Hope.

Even in that movie, though, fans complained about the characterization of OT characters Han and Leia, hating the idea that they drifted apart over the years.

Understandably, some fans also hated how Han Solo died: while the character had some big hero moments in the original films, he never came across as someone who would lay his life down in a big sacrifice, as he does with Kylo Ren.

Among angry Star Wars fans, the general sentiment is that the rest of the Sequel Trilogy similarly misuses our returning characters. There was shock and even outrage when Leia used the Force to survive the vacuum of space, especially because we never saw her engage in any kind of Jedi training.

And, of course, fans and even Mark Hamill were upset at the characterization of Luke Skywalker, as this Jedi Master and hero of the Rebellion had turned his back on both the teachings of the Jedi and the encroaching evil of the First Order.

In a nutshell, those are the main complaints that Star Wars fans had about the OT characters in the Sequel Trilogy…why, then, am I claiming that these arguments are most invalid?

Simply put, the arguments rely on the idea that these characters should have never grown or changed since the end of Return of the Jedi. Decades later, the fandom seemingly expected everyone to be just like they were when they were celebrating the defeat of Palpatine by dancing with some Teddy Bears. 

Here’s the thing, though…these Star Wars characters were changing right in front of our eyes long before the Sequel Trilogy was a twinkle in Kathleen Kennedy’s eye.

In the original films, everyone gets an arc: Luke Skywalker goes from being a shallow youth to a wise Jedi Knight, and Han Solo goes from only caring about himself to helping to save the galaxy.

Even Leia changes, softening from the tough-as-nails princess to someone capable of falling in love without compromising her fierce ideals.

Honestly, the fact that these great characters had such rewarding arcs is part of why the Original Trilogy is so good. But it also highlights the simple fact that change is in each of their natures.

If we can easily accept how much these classic Star Wars characters changed over the course of six years, why is it so hard for the fandom to accept they would have changed even more in the 32 years before the Sequel Trilogy started hitting theaters?

None of this means you have to like those changes, of course. It’s obviously disappointing to see Leia suddenly do cool Force stuff when we never saw her so much as turn on a lightsaber, and it’s terribly sad to watch free-spirited Han sacrifice his life to his emo failson.

And while I don’t necessarily agree with the hate, I can understand the disappointment of fans expecting Luke Skywalker to be a big hero only to discover that he’s basically a grumpy retiree. 

But these Star Wars legends are, in the Sequel Trilogy, like many of the people in our own lives: they’ve changed quite a bit over the decades, and not necessarily for the better.

And we should stop complaining that beloved characters like Luke have changed at all, instead accepting that this is simply human nature, even in a galaxy far, far away.

If you really wanted unchanging characters, you don’t really want human heroes anymore—you want villains like Darth Vader: people more machine now than man.