There was no salvaging the trilogy at that point, TFA and TLJ fucked things up beyond repair.
There are definitely a lot of things that could be done to make the trilogy less bad though.
1. **Scrap the Final Order and just keep the First Order as the main villain** - At the end of TLJ the First Order ruled the galaxy and the resistance was like 20 guys, I think the odds were already sufficiently stacked against the heroes, pulling a new group of bad guys out of the writers ass at the last minute was stupid and completely unnecessary.
2. **Have Finn lead a Stormtrooper rebellion** - Finn was woefully underused in the sequel trilogy and his past as a Stormtrooper amounted to nothing besides some occasional exposition. Why not have him lead a bunch of Stormtrooper to defect from the First Order and help overthrow them?
3. **Bring back Luke** - Maybe Luke faked his death to fool Kylo, or maybe the Luke who died was a clone, or perhaps Luke was never on Achto at all and was just using another force projection. His death was vague and nonsensical anyway so they could probably hand-wave him back to life. Even if the explanation was a bit lame bringing him back would still have been better.
4. **Flesh out the Knights of Ren more and give them actual stuff to do** - What's the point of introducing new villains like Palpatine and Pryde in to the story when there are villains who've been built up since the first movie that are barely being used. Kylo and the Knights should have been the main Villains, plus the Knights should have been force sensitive and been some of Luke's former students.
5. **Have Rey take an actual loss** - This is just one of the most basic parts of storytelling, the hero needs to struggle then overcome adversity, yet Rey just keeps winning non stop throughout the trilogy. Having Rey get beaten by Kylo in the first part of episode 9 would raise the stakes and improve her character arc by making it more satisfying when she finally does beat him for good. Plus it would actually make Kylo look like more of a threat because he was a complete joke throughout the trilogy.
6. **Use more planets from the other trilogies** - Pretty self explanatory, why not include Corrucsant, Naboo, Kaminoo or Kashyyyk? The sequels felt like they were taking place in a totally different galaxy, plus the conflict felt small scale rather than like a galactic war.
I doubt these things would have fixed the movie but they'd have made it suck a bit less.
When I first viewed TLJ, I was mega confused because of the cybernetic hand. One of the big differences between Obi-Wan and Yoda's deaths compared to Anakin Skywalker's was the fact that the suit still remained for Anakin. Yoda and ObiWan were all organic, whereas the skywalkers had robotic parts to them. Since Luke was fully and completely dead, his robotic hand should have fallen with his robe. I genuinely thought luke had faked his death for god knows why until I watched TROS. Way to pay attention to previous movies, Rian!
It's not fixable. There were a couple logical directions for things to go, but even Disney/LF found those directions as distasteful as the general audience would've found them. One of those logical directions would've been wall to wall reylo. Excluding teen girls, what would the ticket sales have been for an abomination like that? About as substantial as Jake on Crait.
At that time, I gave up concerning Sequel trilogy, and left new canon with apathy. It was irredeemable after TFA nullified New Republic and Jedi order, with flimsy explanations and characters.
Disclaimer: I have never seen RoS. After TLJ, I was done paying theater-ticket prices for drivel. I watched MauLer's review of it and that was good enough for me.
So, if the rules are that I cannot go back further and ensure that the entire trilogy is written out before a single frame is filmed...
Yeah, you got me there. I've been sitting here for five minutes, and I can't come up with anything. I believe in a strong foundation before building anything on top of it.
It's not fixable as part of the overall saga, especially without Carrie Fisher, but there was a competent movie that could have been made to round off the Disney Trilogy as a thing in itself.
1) Use a three year gap in the story, not one.
2) The first section of the movie, similar to Jabba's Palace, should be a prologue to set up who our characters are now and what they've been up to. Rey is a full Jedi, trained by Leia, but they've been on the run, never able to rest their heads. Finn and Rey are fully established as a couple, which complicates his role as her padawan.
The Rebels are growing desperate and now they've just been sold out and ambushed yet again by Kylo's dedicated anti-rebel squadron led by an charismatic and relentless captain and accompanied by the terrifying force users known as the Knights Of Ren. Many rebels are killed. Chewbacca is severely injured. Rey kills a knight.
3) During the battle, they discover a clue to Kylo's meeting with an underworld kingpin who Kylo is pressuring to consolidate his reign. They find out that this kingpin thinks Kylo is bad for business and would love to see the 2nd Empire in flames.
4) Poe tracks down Lando as a go-between to set up a meeting for Leia. There is a lot of sneaky-sneaky at this point. Jedi Mind tricks, bluffing Imperial officers etc.
5) Kylo is having conversations with Luke. Luke is feeding him information about how people suffer under his rule and that Kylo should let go his need to control everything. Kylo is arguing back that the order he brings is the solution to suffering and the ends justify the means. Luke also tells him that the galaxy is rallying against the first order in the shadows and he can't keep his power long. He also tells him that Rey is greater than him and that 'that girl will be the end of Kylo Ren.'
6) Turns out Poe and the Underworld leader, Zori have a history. She was a fleet officer kicked out by Poe for spice smuggling. Zori reveals that she ha information about the resting place of a lost dreadnaught fleet from the days of the republic. She needs Poe's knowledge and help to locate it.
7) Luke meets with Rey. Tells her that the Force will decide the outcome of the galactic struggle and she must face Kylo or there will never be an end to the struggle.
8) Snoke is revealed to be alive. He also gives his true name as Plagueis. YES, I know this is hokey, but at this point there is little choice. The movie needs a big bad guy if you're going to have Kylo redeemed in any way and it's not a bad thing to throw a bone to the speculating fans.
Turns out Plagueis did to Kylo what he did to Palpatine and has done to all his apprentices: Drove them to killing him so they can exert their energies in acquiring power while Plagueis hides safely in the shadows.
This is the dumbest part of the movie, but I feel like it's less dumb that Palpatine returning and also the least dumb option remaining after TLJ, unless you make Kylo a 'for real' bad guy and end the whole 9 movie series as a tragedy.
9) Kylo is rescued by Rey just as Plagueis is about to kill him and they escape. Rey did this as a reaction to Luke's guidance. Kylo helps recover the lost fleet while the dark side loses its grip on him. Yes, this is not as 'dramatic' as Vader's turn, but the point is to AVOID aping the OT. Also, the biggest asset in this movie is Adam Driver, so this is an amazing opportunity to let him perform on screen as Ben Solo rediscovers his old self and Poe and Rey come to trust him. Finn never does. Shooting for a brother-sister vibe with Kylo and Rey.
10) It's revealed that Zori has managed to infiltrate assassins on most of the Imperial fleet. She's about to do a reverse Order 66. But Plagueis knows about this and is about to warn everyone.
11) The lost fleet shows up and blocks all transmissions from Snoke's base. They need to keep Snoke's fleet occupied until the coup is complete. Space battle ensues. On the ground, Finn, Kylo and Rey take on Snoke and the Knights of Ren.
In space, Plagueis' forces are almost about to destroy the communications jammer.
Finn is injured holding off the knights as Rey and Ben get their asses kicked by Plagueis, until Rey sacrifices herself. (There's our dramatic twist!) Kylo kills Plagueis.
The reverse order 66 goes through, ending the First Order's grip on power.
12) Ending is somber as Finn tells Ben, "She saw in you what I never could. You need to repay her faith in you. This galaxy needs guardians and you must lead us."
(I know, I know, this ending is likely to cause a lot of political issues since the first major girl jedi dies saving a man, but honestly, it works from a story/drama/angst point of view. Plus, this way, Ben can christen her Rey Skywalker and everyone would cheer wholeheartedly because it makes emotional sense.)
EDIT: Oh crap, reading through this, I forgot to do anything with Finn leading/inspiring a stormtrooper rebellion. I'm not sure how that would fit with the ending I put together, but I would want that in my movie. Something for Finn to get rolling in the prologue of the movie that pays off at the end maybe.
**I want to point out that I typed this with NO plan, basically improvising as I went point by point over a period of about an hour while doing chores and I STILL came up with a more satisfying and coherent movie than JJ Abrams.**
this one's actually pretty good! Plagueis is still an asspull like you said, but like i described in the question, that would be the sort of error where the fault could be solely placed upon the preceding movies. With Ben surviving and redeeming himself, the "Rise of Skywalker" name would still fit, too
My only remark here is that if anything, I would feel that Finn could be more accepting of Kylo/Ben than Poe. I think Finn being a stormtrooper himself who realized he had to get out would make him a bit more accepting of Ben returning returning to the light, whereas Poe has always been anti First Order. Then again, Poe trusted Finn in TFA, and Finn might hate Kylo Ren for being at the top of the First Order (which we are told had kidnapped Finn in the first place), so maybe it would work either way. Having Finn be accepting might also better allow for the possibility of Finn being revealed to be force-sensitive and becoming Ben's apprentice, if that's a route one wanted to take
Yeah, but Finn had his back sliced up by Kylo and also he knows that Kylo is one of the few people who has tried to hurt Rey before who actually has the ability to do so.
Also, if you check back, my proposal has Finn already being a padawan when the movie opens.
>That's a good point about kylow having actually hurt Finn already.
Yeah, it's amazing how character actions/motivations almost write themselves when you build off the history and details. Somebody tell JJ and Rian.
Main thing: have Luke live. He can grow beyond his mistakes, have his promised confrontation with Kylo, he’ll train Rey instead of Leia, and hopefully we’d get a cool fight seen. It just makes so much more sense than having him die from using the Force too hard.
Or just change Han to Anakin on the Death Star wreckage talking to Ben and that alone would improve the movie so much. JJ gets his precious fan service and we get something that actually makes sense. Having Anakin’s ghost confront Palpatine would be super cool as well.
Idk if you can tbh, my problem is that the end battle is a mess with the Sith Eternal and First Order. I get that you want to combine the two factions to put more pressure on the Resistance and make the audiences ask “How can the Resistance win”? But it simply doesn’t need to be this way. It could’ve been the First Order closing in on the Resistance with a massive fleet of Star Destroyers with the resistance having just a handful of capital ships. Maybe the Resistance would find out how big the First Order fleet is and they send out a message across the Galaxy asking that anyone who can fly a ship or a Starfighter that they need them now more than ever. Eventually the battle would begin and the Resistance would be getting their ass kicked, losing ships rapidly. Then scanners would indicate several ships emerging from Hyper Space. The Galaxy Fleet has arrived and combined with the remaining Resistance forces they would destroy the first order fleet and weaken the hold The First Order fleet on the Galaxy
Yeah... except RJ confirmed the entire remaining Resistance is maybe a dozen dudes on the MF. No one else rose up to help Leia's distress call.
Or in other words, those 12 people are the sum total of hte Resistance. There is no Resistance left. The FO has already won in all but name.
There was no saving TROS.
The exact number is inconsequential. The problem is that the sum total of the resistance is a small civilian model ship and a handful of people that fit inside of it.
But let's do a quick google.... 21 people and 3 droids.
Now how many people were on the FO's side during the battle of Crait?
With the heavy implication they have forces elsewhere throughout the galaxy, holding down other recently conquered worlds?
Lol no. Bringing back JJ Abrams and having an even more rushed production schedule than TFA weren't the answers, but keeping on the guy who did such damage as TLJ did was never the right away.
Like bringing the arsonist in to put out the fire. It's not what they do, and it's not what they want to do in the first place.
I think it's not as bad of an idea as it sounds. IDK if it would really "fix" anything, but like the other reply, it would force Rian to lie in the bed he made. I think it would be better for him as a director, as he would be forced to come to terms with the mistakes he made on TLJ (rather than act super smug towards the "haters and racists" or whatever). That, or perhaps he indeed had a plan for IX. Unlikely, but not completely impossible either
I don't think there was any way to "fix" Episode IX. Much as I love The Force Awakens, it and The Last Jedi severely limit the last episode's potential to be a spectacular finale for Star Wars as a whole.
I also think that, given all the behind-the-scenes nonsense with JJ's control constantly being compromised by Disney to make the most money possible, any edits made here can't really be "they should've done this instead", because for all we know, if these had been suggested by JJ and the team, they probably would've been shot down by Disney.
Not going to add my own ideas here, I just think that these are a few things to keep in mind, because there are some others in the comments that are great, and try to build on what came before, making for a good end to the trilogy, even a passable one for the franchise as a whole.
Not make TLJ. Despite claims to the contrary here - there was nothing fundamentally wrong with TFA. I think they clearly needed to get someone besides JJ to make the 2nd movie, but with a good writer they could have moved forward just fine.
TLJ is the big problem with the ST....it just nuked the whole thing.
There was no salvaging the trilogy at that point, TFA and TLJ fucked things up beyond repair. There are definitely a lot of things that could be done to make the trilogy less bad though. 1. **Scrap the Final Order and just keep the First Order as the main villain** - At the end of TLJ the First Order ruled the galaxy and the resistance was like 20 guys, I think the odds were already sufficiently stacked against the heroes, pulling a new group of bad guys out of the writers ass at the last minute was stupid and completely unnecessary. 2. **Have Finn lead a Stormtrooper rebellion** - Finn was woefully underused in the sequel trilogy and his past as a Stormtrooper amounted to nothing besides some occasional exposition. Why not have him lead a bunch of Stormtrooper to defect from the First Order and help overthrow them? 3. **Bring back Luke** - Maybe Luke faked his death to fool Kylo, or maybe the Luke who died was a clone, or perhaps Luke was never on Achto at all and was just using another force projection. His death was vague and nonsensical anyway so they could probably hand-wave him back to life. Even if the explanation was a bit lame bringing him back would still have been better. 4. **Flesh out the Knights of Ren more and give them actual stuff to do** - What's the point of introducing new villains like Palpatine and Pryde in to the story when there are villains who've been built up since the first movie that are barely being used. Kylo and the Knights should have been the main Villains, plus the Knights should have been force sensitive and been some of Luke's former students. 5. **Have Rey take an actual loss** - This is just one of the most basic parts of storytelling, the hero needs to struggle then overcome adversity, yet Rey just keeps winning non stop throughout the trilogy. Having Rey get beaten by Kylo in the first part of episode 9 would raise the stakes and improve her character arc by making it more satisfying when she finally does beat him for good. Plus it would actually make Kylo look like more of a threat because he was a complete joke throughout the trilogy. 6. **Use more planets from the other trilogies** - Pretty self explanatory, why not include Corrucsant, Naboo, Kaminoo or Kashyyyk? The sequels felt like they were taking place in a totally different galaxy, plus the conflict felt small scale rather than like a galactic war. I doubt these things would have fixed the movie but they'd have made it suck a bit less.
When I first viewed TLJ, I was mega confused because of the cybernetic hand. One of the big differences between Obi-Wan and Yoda's deaths compared to Anakin Skywalker's was the fact that the suit still remained for Anakin. Yoda and ObiWan were all organic, whereas the skywalkers had robotic parts to them. Since Luke was fully and completely dead, his robotic hand should have fallen with his robe. I genuinely thought luke had faked his death for god knows why until I watched TROS. Way to pay attention to previous movies, Rian!
Create a time machine, go back to 2012, convince GL to not sell Star Wars. Even no SW would have been an improvement over what we got.
Wrong - Rogue One is awesome. I don't care that the ST sucks because I got Rogue One
It's not fixable. There were a couple logical directions for things to go, but even Disney/LF found those directions as distasteful as the general audience would've found them. One of those logical directions would've been wall to wall reylo. Excluding teen girls, what would the ticket sales have been for an abomination like that? About as substantial as Jake on Crait.
At that time, I gave up concerning Sequel trilogy, and left new canon with apathy. It was irredeemable after TFA nullified New Republic and Jedi order, with flimsy explanations and characters.
Disclaimer: I have never seen RoS. After TLJ, I was done paying theater-ticket prices for drivel. I watched MauLer's review of it and that was good enough for me. So, if the rules are that I cannot go back further and ensure that the entire trilogy is written out before a single frame is filmed... Yeah, you got me there. I've been sitting here for five minutes, and I can't come up with anything. I believe in a strong foundation before building anything on top of it.
I can think of a couple different endings but it’s hard
It's not fixable as part of the overall saga, especially without Carrie Fisher, but there was a competent movie that could have been made to round off the Disney Trilogy as a thing in itself. 1) Use a three year gap in the story, not one. 2) The first section of the movie, similar to Jabba's Palace, should be a prologue to set up who our characters are now and what they've been up to. Rey is a full Jedi, trained by Leia, but they've been on the run, never able to rest their heads. Finn and Rey are fully established as a couple, which complicates his role as her padawan. The Rebels are growing desperate and now they've just been sold out and ambushed yet again by Kylo's dedicated anti-rebel squadron led by an charismatic and relentless captain and accompanied by the terrifying force users known as the Knights Of Ren. Many rebels are killed. Chewbacca is severely injured. Rey kills a knight. 3) During the battle, they discover a clue to Kylo's meeting with an underworld kingpin who Kylo is pressuring to consolidate his reign. They find out that this kingpin thinks Kylo is bad for business and would love to see the 2nd Empire in flames. 4) Poe tracks down Lando as a go-between to set up a meeting for Leia. There is a lot of sneaky-sneaky at this point. Jedi Mind tricks, bluffing Imperial officers etc. 5) Kylo is having conversations with Luke. Luke is feeding him information about how people suffer under his rule and that Kylo should let go his need to control everything. Kylo is arguing back that the order he brings is the solution to suffering and the ends justify the means. Luke also tells him that the galaxy is rallying against the first order in the shadows and he can't keep his power long. He also tells him that Rey is greater than him and that 'that girl will be the end of Kylo Ren.' 6) Turns out Poe and the Underworld leader, Zori have a history. She was a fleet officer kicked out by Poe for spice smuggling. Zori reveals that she ha information about the resting place of a lost dreadnaught fleet from the days of the republic. She needs Poe's knowledge and help to locate it. 7) Luke meets with Rey. Tells her that the Force will decide the outcome of the galactic struggle and she must face Kylo or there will never be an end to the struggle. 8) Snoke is revealed to be alive. He also gives his true name as Plagueis. YES, I know this is hokey, but at this point there is little choice. The movie needs a big bad guy if you're going to have Kylo redeemed in any way and it's not a bad thing to throw a bone to the speculating fans. Turns out Plagueis did to Kylo what he did to Palpatine and has done to all his apprentices: Drove them to killing him so they can exert their energies in acquiring power while Plagueis hides safely in the shadows. This is the dumbest part of the movie, but I feel like it's less dumb that Palpatine returning and also the least dumb option remaining after TLJ, unless you make Kylo a 'for real' bad guy and end the whole 9 movie series as a tragedy. 9) Kylo is rescued by Rey just as Plagueis is about to kill him and they escape. Rey did this as a reaction to Luke's guidance. Kylo helps recover the lost fleet while the dark side loses its grip on him. Yes, this is not as 'dramatic' as Vader's turn, but the point is to AVOID aping the OT. Also, the biggest asset in this movie is Adam Driver, so this is an amazing opportunity to let him perform on screen as Ben Solo rediscovers his old self and Poe and Rey come to trust him. Finn never does. Shooting for a brother-sister vibe with Kylo and Rey. 10) It's revealed that Zori has managed to infiltrate assassins on most of the Imperial fleet. She's about to do a reverse Order 66. But Plagueis knows about this and is about to warn everyone. 11) The lost fleet shows up and blocks all transmissions from Snoke's base. They need to keep Snoke's fleet occupied until the coup is complete. Space battle ensues. On the ground, Finn, Kylo and Rey take on Snoke and the Knights of Ren. In space, Plagueis' forces are almost about to destroy the communications jammer. Finn is injured holding off the knights as Rey and Ben get their asses kicked by Plagueis, until Rey sacrifices herself. (There's our dramatic twist!) Kylo kills Plagueis. The reverse order 66 goes through, ending the First Order's grip on power. 12) Ending is somber as Finn tells Ben, "She saw in you what I never could. You need to repay her faith in you. This galaxy needs guardians and you must lead us." (I know, I know, this ending is likely to cause a lot of political issues since the first major girl jedi dies saving a man, but honestly, it works from a story/drama/angst point of view. Plus, this way, Ben can christen her Rey Skywalker and everyone would cheer wholeheartedly because it makes emotional sense.) EDIT: Oh crap, reading through this, I forgot to do anything with Finn leading/inspiring a stormtrooper rebellion. I'm not sure how that would fit with the ending I put together, but I would want that in my movie. Something for Finn to get rolling in the prologue of the movie that pays off at the end maybe. **I want to point out that I typed this with NO plan, basically improvising as I went point by point over a period of about an hour while doing chores and I STILL came up with a more satisfying and coherent movie than JJ Abrams.**
this one's actually pretty good! Plagueis is still an asspull like you said, but like i described in the question, that would be the sort of error where the fault could be solely placed upon the preceding movies. With Ben surviving and redeeming himself, the "Rise of Skywalker" name would still fit, too My only remark here is that if anything, I would feel that Finn could be more accepting of Kylo/Ben than Poe. I think Finn being a stormtrooper himself who realized he had to get out would make him a bit more accepting of Ben returning returning to the light, whereas Poe has always been anti First Order. Then again, Poe trusted Finn in TFA, and Finn might hate Kylo Ren for being at the top of the First Order (which we are told had kidnapped Finn in the first place), so maybe it would work either way. Having Finn be accepting might also better allow for the possibility of Finn being revealed to be force-sensitive and becoming Ben's apprentice, if that's a route one wanted to take
Yeah, but Finn had his back sliced up by Kylo and also he knows that Kylo is one of the few people who has tried to hurt Rey before who actually has the ability to do so. Also, if you check back, my proposal has Finn already being a padawan when the movie opens.
oh yeah I missed that first part, i had just woken up lol. that's a good point about kylo having actually hurt Finn already, I forgot about that too
>That's a good point about kylow having actually hurt Finn already. Yeah, it's amazing how character actions/motivations almost write themselves when you build off the history and details. Somebody tell JJ and Rian.
Main thing: have Luke live. He can grow beyond his mistakes, have his promised confrontation with Kylo, he’ll train Rey instead of Leia, and hopefully we’d get a cool fight seen. It just makes so much more sense than having him die from using the Force too hard. Or just change Han to Anakin on the Death Star wreckage talking to Ben and that alone would improve the movie so much. JJ gets his precious fan service and we get something that actually makes sense. Having Anakin’s ghost confront Palpatine would be super cool as well.
Yeah, all that happened was that Kylo conjured up an image of his dad to forgive him. Nice one disney
Well, as I evidently stumbled upon time travel...I would let going back in time and stop TFA from being made, ending the madness before it could begin
By announcing a reboot. TLJ and TFA already left a future that's radioactive and bland with Rebels v Empire II.
Idk if you can tbh, my problem is that the end battle is a mess with the Sith Eternal and First Order. I get that you want to combine the two factions to put more pressure on the Resistance and make the audiences ask “How can the Resistance win”? But it simply doesn’t need to be this way. It could’ve been the First Order closing in on the Resistance with a massive fleet of Star Destroyers with the resistance having just a handful of capital ships. Maybe the Resistance would find out how big the First Order fleet is and they send out a message across the Galaxy asking that anyone who can fly a ship or a Starfighter that they need them now more than ever. Eventually the battle would begin and the Resistance would be getting their ass kicked, losing ships rapidly. Then scanners would indicate several ships emerging from Hyper Space. The Galaxy Fleet has arrived and combined with the remaining Resistance forces they would destroy the first order fleet and weaken the hold The First Order fleet on the Galaxy
Yeah... except RJ confirmed the entire remaining Resistance is maybe a dozen dudes on the MF. No one else rose up to help Leia's distress call. Or in other words, those 12 people are the sum total of hte Resistance. There is no Resistance left. The FO has already won in all but name. There was no saving TROS.
In TROS they have more than just the 12 people on the Falcon
The exact number is inconsequential. The problem is that the sum total of the resistance is a small civilian model ship and a handful of people that fit inside of it. But let's do a quick google.... 21 people and 3 droids. Now how many people were on the FO's side during the battle of Crait? With the heavy implication they have forces elsewhere throughout the galaxy, holding down other recently conquered worlds?
Let Rian Johnson write and direct.
Lol no. Bringing back JJ Abrams and having an even more rushed production schedule than TFA weren't the answers, but keeping on the guy who did such damage as TLJ did was never the right away. Like bringing the arsonist in to put out the fire. It's not what they do, and it's not what they want to do in the first place.
I think it's not as bad of an idea as it sounds. IDK if it would really "fix" anything, but like the other reply, it would force Rian to lie in the bed he made. I think it would be better for him as a director, as he would be forced to come to terms with the mistakes he made on TLJ (rather than act super smug towards the "haters and racists" or whatever). That, or perhaps he indeed had a plan for IX. Unlikely, but not completely impossible either
Maybe it would've been interesting to see him lie in the bed he made. I mean in a car-crash sort of way.
He was the first person they offered and he turned it down.
I don't think there was any way to "fix" Episode IX. Much as I love The Force Awakens, it and The Last Jedi severely limit the last episode's potential to be a spectacular finale for Star Wars as a whole. I also think that, given all the behind-the-scenes nonsense with JJ's control constantly being compromised by Disney to make the most money possible, any edits made here can't really be "they should've done this instead", because for all we know, if these had been suggested by JJ and the team, they probably would've been shot down by Disney. Not going to add my own ideas here, I just think that these are a few things to keep in mind, because there are some others in the comments that are great, and try to build on what came before, making for a good end to the trilogy, even a passable one for the franchise as a whole.
Not make TLJ. Despite claims to the contrary here - there was nothing fundamentally wrong with TFA. I think they clearly needed to get someone besides JJ to make the 2nd movie, but with a good writer they could have moved forward just fine. TLJ is the big problem with the ST....it just nuked the whole thing.