9. Setting
So assuming were 30 years past the events in Return of the Jedi, we now face the problem of what story is there to tell? For me Star Wars isnt Star Wars unless the focus is on a Skywalker. Especially if its an Episode. The spin-off movies can spin off to wherever they want to go but Disney/Lucasfilm already saying this is Episode 7 tells me the story of the Skywalkers is to continue. Now here is where the problems really start. 30 years is a long time. At the end of Return of the Jedi, Luke was a Jedi Knight but he was alone. Sure he had his ghost Jedi for back up but really, what is the next step for him? Training more Jedi? In the old ways wait, they didnt really work did they? Training them in all new ways, all by himself with his limited amount of genuine training? Maybe not. If we jump 30 years forward, you could argue all this is sorted out. The Jedi order may be back. In turn the Republic may be back up and running but thats re-creating the prequel trilogy set up and we know that is doomed for failure now. Either way, the Republic and whats left of the Jedi are pretty much at peace and even if they weren't just after Return of the Jedi they probably should be now 30 years after and I dont think anyone wants to go into a Star Wars movie with a galaxy at peace no one wants to see Star Peace, right? Speaking of peace, are we going to be back to pre-Order 66 democracy? Did the troopers remain as an army of the republic as they started out? Has all the fine work in Attack of the Clones, through the Clone Wars and into Revenge of the Sith regarding troopers all being played with in order for us to accept that post Episode 6, the troopers can quite easily carry on being an army for the good guys again? You would imagine that there were some battles between what was left of the Empire and the New Republic after Episode 6 and Id imagine it will be referred to in the same sort of way that the Clone Wars was referred to in A New Hope, as something major that happened back in the day (cue a new animated series called The Empire Wars) but to really grasp what setting we might have in Episode 7, we probably have to look at the characters' driving the story to formulate where the galaxy might be at 30 years on.