Star Wars has spanned over 40 years and hundreds of hours of content between film, TV, video games, and more. In the modern incarnation of the franchise, several entries catch heat for retreading old ground or refusing to move on, often falling back on the same characters, events, and references to captivate the fan base.
Why do creators, often wildly varied film and television professionals with unique creative visions, struggle heartily to tell a story within the theoretically massive universe which has stayed beloved for so long? This problem has heightened over the years, each trilogy panned as a retread of the first, and between each trilogy a flood of interstitial pieces depicting existing events in greater detail which come under fire for refusing to innovate.
The answer is multifaceted. Many elements of the Star Wars franchise, as well as of franchise media in general, work together to create difficulty for new creators entering the fold. Some would contend that the scale of Star Wars, the mountain of concepts, factions, and iconography which make up the universe would allow for near-infinite stories within its canon. While this is a reasonable assumption, many stories within the universe can't get by without inserting some specific things which much of the plot must be built around. This trap, appearing huge while actually demanding creators pull from a small pool, is a huge hurdle that many do not notice.
Perhaps the franchise's biggest target for accusations of repetition was 2016s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Rogue One was the first fully live-action spin-off of blockbuster scale, the presumed starting point for a planned anthology. Directed by Gareth Edwards, Rogue One was accused of being joyless, dull, and unoriginal. The main characters were new but constantly sidelined to make room for in-jokes and references. From a pitcher of blue milk to a brief appearance by the two jerks who bully Luke in the Mos Eisley Cantina, the film is awash in callbacks to things fans remember, with no apparent meaning behind them. References and reincorporation for its own sake is a massive problem in franchise media, whether it's the creators or the studio forcing in meaningless allusions to the previous films, it can be eye-rolling for fans and perplexing for newcomers.
References are perhaps the most obvious of the problems with the franchise, but it is not the largest problem. Jon Favreau's 2019 series The Mandalorian was beloved by fans and highly praised for doing what so many creators struggle with. The series felt brand new while being inarguably a part of the larger canon, it set itself apart by creating a story about a strongly identifiable yet brand new character exploring the less examined parts of the galaxy. The Mandalorian introduced a new cast of likable characters with ties to the franchise and built its narrative around their journeys without needing to fall back on old concepts. The show maintained that distinction, at least for its first season.
Season 2 held strong for the first several episodes, focusing on the titular Mandalorian, his charge The Child, and his new cast of misfits. Characters like Bo-Katan and Ahsoka Tano who had previously only appeared in animated series began to appear, dragging with them some of the tangled mass of the existing narrative, which even when well incorporated complicates a previously simple story. In the 14th episode of the series, controversial franchise mainstay Boba Fett made his appearance, by immediately decimating a small army of stormtroopers and ferrying the main character away in Slave-One. It's almost comical, the way the Razor Crest, which the audience has spent a ton of time with is just suddenly obliterated in a single blast so that the plot can only progress by way of Slave-One. In the conclusion of the season, the massive plot elements, the villains' plan coming to fruition, and the fates of Mando and the heroes are put completely on hold to make way for the one and only Luke Skywalker.
Drawing this narrative, which has been so unique and original while still staying comfortably within the tapestry of the beloved franchise to a close on this note is a microcosm of the problems with the franchise. An arc comes to an end with the main character, setting up massive plot elements for the next season but immediately pushing past that crucial plot to make room for the series royal lineage. The massive Star Wars universe sees itself tethered to the Skywalker bloodline which regularly forces it to retread old ground. A Star Wars story with no connection to the characters of the original would risk alienating casual fans who only know Luke, Han or Obi-Wan, but holding tightly to them and their descendants' leashes the franchise in a way that handicaps creators and often hurts the product.
The deeply controversial Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi represents another problem with innovation in the franchise. The fans often will not tolerate new directions that uproot their personal favorite version of the canon, even if that version does not actually exist. Luke was portrayed as a washed-up and broken man, scarred and made cynical by his past, but refused to do so in a cool or dynamic way. This earned scorn from the established fan base, as did the focus on the accomplishments of new characters. This backlash, along with the series default mode being self-referential, creates an ecosystem in which the franchise's owners are motivated not to innovate.
Creating engaging, fresh, and innovative media in the Star Wars franchise is difficult, but entirely possible. It takes a bold step forward to risk backlash and a creative vision to ensure the correct path. Star Wars is still going strong today, but the films are seeing diminishing returns. Solo: A Star Wars Story was a mild flop and The Rise Of Skywalker experienced a disappointing return at the box office. The formula is starting to break down, and the creators will have to reach forward to keep the beloved franchise going strong into the next generation.