Star Wars: Can J.J. Abrams course correct with Episode IX?

HOLLYWOOD, CA – MARCH 08: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and George Lucas attend the ceremony honoring Mark Hamill with A Star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame held in front of El Capitan Theatre on March 8, 2018 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Michael Tran/Getty Images,)

Final thoughts

Can Abrams course correct with the final film? Well, if the first goal of course correction is to make more money than The Last Jedi, then I think Abrams will follow suit with the previous two trilogies – increasing box office from the second to the third leg. Could he possibly pass the first leg (The Force Awakens)? I doubt it.

The uneven nature between VII and VIII leaves little to work with in IX. This will look even worse if the third film tries to go back on previous questions like Rey and Snoke. But I doubt that it will. It will just make the second film look all the more out of place, and I’m sure Disney does not want that – especially with an impending new trilogy by Johnson still in the works.

The funny thing is that Abrams is a fantastic storyteller. Honestly, a better storyteller than Johnson, and that is not meant as an insult. There are very few guys that are as elite at weaving narratives as Abrams.

On top of the many shows he has created, Abrams has rebooted three huge franchises in his career. Of course, Star Wars with The Force Awakens. But Abrams also did a fantastic job of rebooting Star Trek as well. I actually love the Kelvin timeline Star Trek movie from 2009, but probably because it feels more like Star Wars in its delivery.

Then there is Abrams’ reboot of Mission: Impossible with the third installment: Mission: Impossible III. Brad Bird’s fourth installment (Ghost Protocol) was also good (but not as good as Abrams’ III). But what Abrams did in Mission: Impossible III laid the groundwork for the last two Mission Impossible films (Rogue Nation and Fallout), which were overseen by Christopher McQuarrie and are absolutely fantastic – maybe even better than the Abrams’ installment.

Abrams is good at creating strong narratives, which is why it is puzzling that he didn’t oversee this entire Star Wars trilogy. His return to do IX is even more puzzling (but also welcome).

But it all starts with the original question of can Star Wars be course corrected? And here is the answer:

This universe can provide many narratives. Some of them will be good and some of them will be bad (probably just average to be fair). But there is one achievement that will never happen. There will never be anything to match that original trilogy.

That first trilogy has its imperfections (most of them in the third installment), but it is one of the greatest narratives ever put to film. And that is the reason why Star Wars will live on in many other forms. It will never achieve that greatness again, but does that really matter?

What George Lucas created lives on because it was so damn good. Not many people get to say that. I’m always upset when I would see George fire back about hating how fans treated him over the prequels. Not because I was mad at George for firing back, and not because of my own issues with the prequels, but because of one simple thing:

George created Star Wars.

That is enough for his biography to be held in great regard. But he also created Indiana Jones, and that also has three great films under its belt – and a pretty terrific series about ‘Young Indy.’ That’s two amazing franchises in one lifetime. Both of which could be telling stories for many decades to come. An amazing achievement.

Here’s what Lucas told Vanity Fair back in 2015 as to why he was no longer making Star Wars films:

"“You go to make a movie and all you do is get criticized, and people try to make decisions about what you’re going to do before you do it. Y’know, it’s not much fun. And you can’t experiment. You can’t do anything. You have to do it a certain way. I don’t like that, I never did.”"

I hope George knows how much he has meant to so many people because of his immense creativity. It has probably been hard to get criticized so much, but it really is a reflection of how much Star Wars has meant to an entire generation.

So, for Abrams, who has also seen criticism with his Star Wars trilogy, there is no need for course correction. The original trilogy cannot be replicated, so just go out and make another good film (and hopefully a great film). Abrams is certainly capable. And, as a Star Wars fan, that should be enough.