16 years went by between two radically different Star Wars trailers that kickstarted opposing ends of the Skywalker Saga and it wasn’t just from an artistic standpoint. Back in late 1998 when the first The Phantom Menace preview came out the internet’s dot-com bubble hadn’t even reached its peak and YouTube was nowhere near being a thing.

Fast-forward to November 2014 and Disney had bought Star Wars with the intention of promoting it as aggressively as it could to hardcore and casual fans that hadn’t seen or heard a lightsaber in almost a decade. This huge yet somewhat unnoticeable change hides the harsh reality that Episode 1 may have been the last time Star Wars fans would get to see a movie trailer with such little knowledge of the film in question.

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For that reason, Disney was rightfully eager to shock and awe with The Force Awakens to showcase their new fancy property that would be as successful as their prized Marvel collection, and to give the company and Lucasfilm credit where it’s due, they rightfully delivered. The Force Awakens presents itself as the perfect blend of old and new with unknown characters promising to shake the force like never before within just a year’s worth of waiting.

Finn, Rey, Poe and Kylo Ren grabbed most of the headlines as the prospect of a rogue stormtrooper being able to control the force and two characters that each recalled different facets of a younger Luke Skywalker going up against whoever that Sith Lord with the really cool lightsaber just seemed amazing. At the same time, BB-8 and the Millenium Falcon guaranteed plenty of fan service would be there, a nostalgic callback that seemed complementary in that moment but that would end up hindering the entire sequel trilogy.

Producers even had John Williams record special music for the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailers, which really signaled just how important making a good first impression was for Disney. Almost half a year later, when trailer two came out Lucasfilm leveled up that experience by having Luke Skywalker serve as the narrator who very surely felt the flow of force in one of the newcomer characters and confirming Han Solo and Chewbacca’s return.

The thing that was most exciting about The Force Awakens at that time was the possibility of an entire generation of Jedi and Sith popping up in the faraway galaxy with just a touch of familiarity from the old Rebel Alliance. In any case, for all the promise in having a completely original story, one of the higher notes for this new Star Wars was how well it transitioned the old costumes and aesthetics into the modern CGI era with producers being quite keen on actually building as many props as possible to keep that aura of “realism” George Lucas’ films had.

Of course, in 2015 die-hard Star Wars fans could stay up to date with the latest rumors and possible leaks from The Force Awakens’ set, something that admittedly robbed them of some hype. By then it was also becoming more obvious that non-movie Star Wars productions were better in some key aspects within the franchise’s lore like exploring the inner workings of the force or more individual character arcs like in The Clone Wars.

Star Wars always carries the burden of only being able to compete with itself, something that comes with its fair share of problems because Lucasfilm and Disney are very much aware that they can always sell the franchise incredibly well even by relying solely on its legacy. Even though J.J. Abrams tried set up so many potential storylines in The Force Awakens, a lot of critics point out that the sequel trilogy’s main problem is always falling back on nostalgia plays from older Star Wars characters.

When trailer number three dropped just a couple of months ahead of the film's premiere The Force Awakens teased the possibility of Finn eventually being the one destined to wield Leia's blue lightsaber, a fake-out for sure, but one that goes a long way in illustrating just how the rest of the new characters aside from Rey and Kylo Ren slowly start to fade away in the background in The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. The sequel trilogy is all about Rey and Ben Solo intertwining stories as very different disciples of Luke Skywalker and the payoff for their relationship is -arguably- satisfying enough in itself (Disney kiss scene aside), nevertheless it's brought down by other creative choices surrounding it, like opting to bring back Darth Sidious.

The need to bring closure to the Skywalker storyline and tying all those loose ends put even bigger constraints on developing Finn and Poe as long-lasting characters within the Star Wars universe, thus practically killing any chance of having any of these characters (including Daisy Ridley's Rey) return in the future. They were never really given the chance to perform in a way that could have caused fans to love them as much as the old guard.

When Taika Waititi takes over Star Wars he'll be leading a fresh project detached from shackles of George Lucas' accomplishments and the Skywalker family, so while fan service may be a given, it'll be there in a way that doesn't compromise storytelling. If The Force Awakens trailer was exciting, fresh, and generated unmatched expectations, just imagine what a future preview for a new trilogy could look like, one that pays respect to the franchise but unequivocally lets the past die for the sake of laying the ground for a new Star Wars.

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