10 Simple Fixes That Would Have Saved The Star Wars Sequels

Despite being a comparatively minor change, this would have had the biggest implications not just for the Sequel Trilogy but the Skywalker Saga as a whole.

Amongst the voices of disembodied Jedi at the end of The Rise of Skywalker, Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker can be heard saying "Bring balance to the Force, as I did." This line was clearly included by the filmmakers to easily explain away any argument about Anakin's role in the first six movies being undermined, effectively telling fans that the so-called Chosen One did "bring balance to the Force" (whatever that means) but the Force simply fell out of balance again less than thirty years after his death.

It's short enough to be disregarded, but this throwaway line only serves to highlight just how meaningless Anakin's sacrifice at the end of Return of the Jedi was.

The idea that the Force had been balanced so soon before needing balancing again raises questions of its own. Does the Force periodically get thrown out of balance every few decades, needing a new Chosen One to come around and set it straight again? Throughout the entire Saga we are never told what "balance to the Force" actually means, and this line does nothing to clarify this concept.

Instead of telling Rey to "bring balance to the Force, as I did," Anakin's force ghost should have told her to "Finish what I started, and bring balance to the Force".

As well as maintaining the meaningfulness of Anakin's legacy (he weakened the Emperor so that Rey could destroy him), this line would have recalled Kylo's promise to his grandfather that he "will finish what you started". Not only would this have introduced some of the classic cinematic "poetry" Star Wars loves to indulge in, it would have clarified Kylo Ren's motivations, making him a more interesting character in the process.