10 Simple Fixes That Would Have Saved The Star Wars Sequels
7. Don't Waste Cool Supporting Characters
The Force Awakens introduced a tonne of cool concepts and character designs neglected in future Sequel films.
Captain Phasma and the Knights of Ren are the two most obvious examples of underused ideas, their distinctive visual appearance and comparative lack of screen time indicating they were only ever created to shift action figures.
However, Maz Kanata was the most underused of the bunch. Introduced in The Force Awakens, Maz hints she is a Force user despite never alleging herself to the Jedi or the Sith: making her the first neutral Force-sensitive character in Skywalker Saga.
Unfortunately Maz, whose Force scenes were cut from Episode VII's theatrical release, was relegated to a minor contract-fulfilling cameo in The Last Jedi, and returned as nothing more than a minor supporting character in Episode IX.
Originally set up to be the Sequel Trilogy's answer to Yoda, Maz Kanata quickly became just another member of the Resistance performing meaningless tasks in the background as Rey and co took centre stage.
Not only do audiences never find out about Kanata's relationship to the Original Trilogy's Rebellion or just how she got her hands on Luke's Skywalker, poor Maz was reduced to the most overtly fan service moment of the entire Sequel Trilogy. Handing Chewbacca the medal he never received at the end of A New Hope, Maz is transformed from a character to a set piece in a meme before your very eyes. Ahh, the magic of cinema.