I think at this point that it’s totally fair to say that the Star Wars sequel trilogy mishandled a few things in the story department. Now, I’m not one of those who will decry absolutely everything that happened from start to finish, but there were a ton of missed opportunities that could have really elevated the final product.
Specifically, anyone vaguely familiar with how it all played out will likely be familiar with the now-infamous line, “Somehow, Palpatine returned,” as uttered by Oscar Isaac’s actually quite interesting character Poe Dameron.
Aside from not really giving us any information about how he managed to survive being thrown down a tube that was as long as the radius of the Death Star, it also just felt like a bit of a cop out. Sure, Palpatine was a fantastic overarching villain for the first six films, but the sequel trilogy really felt like the time to bring a new character in to take over the evil reins.
That’s particularly true because the wider lore that has been established around the franchise has so many exciting characters who are all ready to make their debut on the big screen.
Thrawn Was The Perfect Choice For The Sequel
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Over on Reddit, one fan of the franchise asked the community who they would have liked to have seen as the big bad in the sequel trilogy.
By far the most liked comment, and one which seemingly drew near unanimous approval from the rest of the thread, was one that put forward the idea of Thrawn taking on the role.
“Thrawn as depicted in books (both legend and canon) a mastermind who rarely fails to obtain his main objective. I want to be impressed by how smart the main villain is, not simply see a cool and evil looking mean armored character or some bleep boop,” it read.
Thrawn was a Grand Admiral of the Imperial Navy during the reign of the Galactic Empire, who you’ll most likely know from the events of Ahsoka. First introduced more than 30 years ago as part of the Thrawn Trilogy of novels, he lead the remnants of the Empire after its fall, making him the perfect character for the sequel trilogy.
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Whilst he doesn’t have the out and out individual power of a character like Sidious, he’s a ruthless individual and genius strategic thinker, once leading him to be described as "one of the most threatening antagonists" in the Star Wars universe.
Tons of other comments weighed in to express their agreement, including one who said, “Yeah in some alternate reality Star Wars Episode VII: Heir to the Empire opens with that epic shot of the Chimera busted up and Thrawn walking up through his Stormtroopers. God I wish that had been our opening shot for the Star Wars revival.”
In any case, we didn’t get that, but it doesn’t mean we can’t have a version of that in the future, whenever Disney decides to push forward with Star Wars films once again.