Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 9 Mistakes Episode VIII Can't Afford To Repeat

4. Leaving Too Many Questions Hanging In The Air

Undoubtably, one of the most frustrating things about The Force Awakens is the way in which it leaves so much to the imagination. Don't take that the wrong way: it's good to leave certain things dangling to captivate an audience (like Darth Vader's origin story, perhaps?), but you reach a point where ambiguity begins to feel a lot like dodging or lazy screenwriting. And that's what happened with Episode VII, when J.J. Abrams and his co-writer, Lawrence Kasdan, decided to leave large gaps in the narrative - many of which audiences were left to assume would be filled in as the new trilogy progresses. So if The Force Awakens is a "question movie," then Episode VIII needs to be the "answer movie." This is the film where all of those things that weren't explained in Episode VII need to be unveiled. Rian Johnson needs to begin to fill in the gaps left by The Force Awakens, otherwise people will begin to lose interest in the way that they did with a show like Lost; plot points were left hanging for so long that it killed the suspense of the thing. Most importantly, whilst it's okay to leave a few narrative points lingering in the years separating Episode VIII and IX, Johnson should be careful with regards to the extent that he leaves fans dangling; the idea should be to tease them, not outright frustrate them.