After thinking about the Gospel According to John and watching Maul Shadow Lord today has finally given me the language to talk about this thing that has been brewing in my mind and if we’re honest is the future of Star Wars the fandom as a whole is hesitant to admit as inevitable. While a gospel account and a series about Darth Maul seem random and a bit contradictory the two have more in common than one would exist. They are both mythological media: one rooted in the Jewish storytelling tradition and the other heavily influenced by the Jewish storytelling tradition. Judaism and the Jewish storytelling tradition embrace something that was lost in western thought and is slowly returning through new age spirituality and the growing need of DBT to address a mental health crisis is the embrace of contradictions and paradoxes. In other words, the embrace of two ideas, thoughts, or perspectives that seem contradictory or like opposites but can actually coexist. One contradiction and paradox in the first book of the Jewish Torah that is mirrored in the ending of the Gospel According to John is the dual creation account and the dual ending to John. With this in mind, I am convinced that Simon Kinberg’s trilogy is the second Sequel Trilogy.
I could go on about the practical reasons that a Second Sequel Trilogy is needed, but that would bore us all and is sure to add to the already polarized Star Wars discourse. Instead, I’d prefer to stay in the realm of myth. Since Star Wars, especially in post-Sequel media, is all about two’s and the Sequel trilogy is all about twos therefore the Sequels would also exist in twos. Two trilogies to complete the story of two trilogies. Just as there was an original and a prequel trilogy. There must also be two Sequel trilogies that mirror the structure of the original two trilogies. One that zooms in on a small proxy war, and one that zooms out and shows the consequences and spiritual significance of that proxy war. The originals zoom in on the war for the fate of the galaxy then zooms out and shows the spiritual significance of a grander proxy war that lead to it. It’s like poetry, it rhymes. Just as the common thread of the originals was Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, the common thread of the Sequels is Ben Solo, the heir to Anakin Skywalker, and Rey Skywalker, the spiritual (and perhaps biological) heir to Obi-Wan Kenobi. Always two their are, no more, no less. The common thread that binds the Star Wars saga together is the hidden presence of the apprentice to Anakin Skywalker Ahsoka Tano whose subtle revelation in The Rise of Skywalker will lead to her on screen revelation in the Second Sequel Trilogy.
The other common thread is the Chosen One Anakin Skywalker and his heir Ben Solo. For this reason, I expect the Second Sequel Trilogy to center on the story of Ben Solo and his rise to finishing Anakin’s work in fulfilling the Chosen One prophecy. We can’t have our heroes without our villains also. Palpatine embodies that dark spiritual force that has brought all the misfortune upon our heroes. I am equally convinced that Hux is Palpatine’s clone son and will return as his heir as Supreme Leader of the Third Order. I made a post regarding this on Star Wars Speculation titled “Supreme Leader Hux: The Culmination of Project Necromancer”. If you have any questions on why I’m so convinced this will happen feel free to ask me in the comments.
Now I’m going to bring this all back to Reylo because this is a Reylo sub after all. The Dyad is crucial to this story but just as their relationship was tenuous for most of the Sequel trilogy how much more tenuous will their relationship be in the grander more cosmic Second Sequel Trilogy. Just as Luke lost his order and cut himself off from the force so will Rey lose her order and cut herself off from the Dyad itself. This coupled with Ben’s guilt for his past as Kylo Ren, and their coequal responsibility in the rise of the Third Order, their relationship will be tumultuous in this trilogy even more than it was in the previous one. In the end, however our Dyad will return by the end because Ben is the chosen one, him and Rey are the Dyad, and together with the power of many they will overcome evil, but not without the cost of many inflictions on their hearts inflicted by the spirit of Sidious. How romantic this will all be I will leave up to the imaginations of this very creative community, but if you thought the last trilogy was romantic then how much more will this one be.