10 Reasons Why Star Wars: The Last Jedi Is Better Than The Force Awakens

4. It Naturally Balances New Characters With The Old

Kelly Marie Tran The Last Jedi
LucasFilm

Not only did The Force Awakens have the gargantuan job of reintroducing beloved characters fans hadn't seen for decades, it also had to establish an entirely new cast which could carry the franchise going forward. While J.J. pulled off this unenviable task as well as he could, trying to balance such an expansive array of characters inevitably resulted in some of them feeling underutilised.

Now that the likes of Finn, Poe and Rey have become fan-favourites though, The Last Jedi can confidently place them at the heart of the Star Wars universe, properly integrating them with the old guard. Where the previous film felt a little disjointed, Johnson's sequel feels whole, with relationships between old and new heroes - like Poe's story with Leia or Rey's with Luke - giving the right amount of time to just about everyone.

Sure, not every character is treated equally - and Captain Phasma in particular is criminally underused - but for the most part every main player gets enough to do in the latest film.

Advertisement
Contributor

Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.