Star Wars: Can J.J. Abrams course correct with Episode IX?
LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 12: Wax figures of Star Wars characters Princess Leia and Jabba The Hut on display at ‘Star Wars At Madame Tussauds’ on May 12, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images)
The first Leia problem
In the original trilogy, Princess Leia is a force (no pun intended) unto herself. She will always be one of my first images when it comes to strong female presence in any kind of action film. This is especially true in Star Wars, but becomes less evident as the films progress. It just seemed like Leia got less to do as the original trilogy unfolded. And that is regrettable because the character is so terrific and the sky was the limit story-wise.
But the real undermining moment for Leia in the original trilogy was when her ‘square peg’ was smashed into the ‘round hole’ of being Luke’s twin sister. All of a sudden this very strong character, who fought with every fiber of her being for the Rebellion became just another person with “super powers.” As noted, I love Luke Skywalker. He is a very powerful Jedi, but Leia’s power did not come from the mystical Force, but purely from herself.
It is one of the most nonsensical moments in the original trilogy. Especially considering how much time her now father (Darth Vader) spent with Leia during the first film – even some of that time torturing her to extract information. It really doesn’t make any sense, and anyone trying to argue otherwise is just trying to make the pieces fit.
Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back producer Gary Kurtz was definitive about that prospect of Luke and Leia being siblings in an interview by Chris Gore (from March of 2000):
"“So the story was quite a bit more poignant and the ending was the coronation of Leia as the queen of what was left of her people, to take over the royal symbol. That meant she was then isolated from all of the rest and Luke went off then by himself. It was basically a kind of bittersweet ending. She’s not his sister that dropped in to wrap up everything neatly. His sister was someone else way over on the other side of the galaxy and she wasn’t going to show up until the next episode.”"
The ‘neatness’ of Leia being Luke’s sister actually created a huge misstep in the series. Some of which related to a now incestuous relationship between Luke and Leia. Everything in the film could have still worked with an off-camera sister being saved for an eventual sequel. Even Vader’s threat to find the sister and have her join the dark side would still work. Who the sister is doesn’t really matter – it is just her existence that Vader uses against Luke. But it is my belief that Abrams and Kasdan tried to correct this sibling mistake (somewhat) in The Force Awakens.