It's been a year since the release of The Rise of Skywalker, so let's look back and reflect a little on the sequel series.
The biggest issue, I think, is a lack of motivation for the characters. At the start of filming on The Force Awakens, the creators should have known the answers to:
- Why has Han abandoned his family to wander the galaxy?
- Why has Luke gone into hiding?
- Why did Ben Solo turn to the Dark Side?
I don't think #1 is answered at all, and that Rian Johnson was left to come up with answers to #2 and #3 that are a case of misunderstandings-gone-wrong worthy of an episode of Three's Company, but not the core of an epic space opera trilogy.
What would make sense as character motivations?
Why did Ben Solo turn to the Dark Side?
Let's start with the most important backstory to the sequel series, with the understanding that anything in this headcanon has to be better than, "Uncle Luke thought about killing me."
So. Let's say Ben had a sister (nod to the Solo twins, though it needn't be a twin sister here), and they were both being trained by Luke as part of the new Jedi order, and she was killed during a diplomatic mission. Ben wanted revenge for her death; Luke and Leia cautioned against it, but *Han* helps him get revenge, and so Ben is on the path to the Dark Side.
Ben finds that revenge does not bring him peace, and becomes obsessed with the idea of "saving" his sister from death. Han now sees that Luke and Leia were right, and tries to dissuade Ben from this dark path. Ben leaves him behind and strikes out on his own. Han reports back to Leia and Luke that he's lost Ben, but vows to bring him back. Giving Ben a stronger motivation solves the question of Han's own motivation: he hasn't abandoned his family; he's out looking for Ben.
Ben spends his time researching old Sith holocrons, searching for a way to bring his sister back from the dead. This allows us to tap into lore from Plagueis to Palpatine to Vader. Note that this alters Ben's desire to "finish what you started"; instead of a weird reverence for Anakin's fall to the Dark Side, this becomes a reference to Anakin's failed attempts to save and then resurrect Padmé. This allows us to bring back Hayden Christensen as a force ghost who tries to steer Ben back to the Light.
Ben needs funding for his researches. He falls in with the First Order as the mercenary "Kylo Ren"; he trains their force-sensitives, and they fund his research. There is no need for Snoke or Palpatine; Ben has no interest in becoming Supreme Leader. Remember, he's not out to destroy his family; he's trying to save it, and he believes he's the *only* one who was willing to do what it takes to save it (this becomes a good bone for him to gnaw on, eventually driving him into more direct conflict with his elders).
He finally succeeds in cloning his sister, and through forced growth ages the clone body to young adulthood. The Force Awakens begins with him performing the Sith ritual to call her soul back from the Force to this body. According to his researches, it can take some time for the soul to return, and he is prepared to wait. Then he is called away on business, and he leaves the First Order's force sensitives that he is currently training to mind the store and contact him if anything happens.
While he's away, the clone body wakes up, but doesn't know who she is. This is Rey. One of the First Order's force sensitives, Finn, feels a connection to her and helps her to bust out of the Sith lab and the two go wandering.
Note that at this point, since Rey, our primary POV character, doesn't know her own backstory, it's a mystery to us, too, to be solved as the series progresses. Finn is not much help because Ben has not shared the particulars of his research with his trainees or the First Order. Moreover, when Han / Leia / Luke meet her, they recognize her as the spitting image of Ben's sister, and might suspect the body is a clone, but whether she is truly the same as that lost sister or someone new is a philosophical question to wrestle with. Rey's and Finn's motivations are largely unchanged, but Finn is more explicitly Force sensitive, and having Ben and Rey kiss at some point gets a lot squickier.
The war between the New Republic and the First Order is all a backdrop to a much more personal story. It's important, yes, because Leia must lead the New Republic's fleet in order to achieve a stalemate. Wherever she goes, they are victorious; however, the First Order is making inroads as Kylo Ren trains their force sensitives faster than Luke can rebuild the Jedi Order (recall that the path to the Dark Side is quicker, easier).
Luke has taken the Jedi Academy into hiding because they have been attacked by First Order operatives in the Core Worlds. The stress of the situation can still weigh on him; the need to train Jedi for war can lead to teachings that stray toward the Dark Side, and every day is an internal test of his will to walk the path of the Light Side.
