Whether you love them or you hate them, there’s no denying that Disney’s Star Wars has gotten fans more passionate than ever. Even at the height of George Lucas’ reign over the series, the fandom have never been as energized as it currently is. With the entire Extended Universe relabeled “Legends” so that Disney can push their new canon, and the Sequel Trilogy itself reinventing any notion of where the series was headed after the Original Trilogy, long🥂time fans are more than likely to be a bit salty with Disney’s decisions. At the same time, Disney is also a breath of fresh air for the franchise.
When it comes down to it, though, love or hate, Disney has blatantly broken the series’ established continuity many times in order to forge their vision for the franchise. Some breaks have been intentional while others not so much. Some are actually quite justifiable where some will leave you scratching your head wondering how Disney could ever be so careless with their intellectual property. It’s important to recognize that despite Disney breaking continuity so much, this isn’t a new trend for the series. George Lucas consistently broke his own canon. A fragile continuity is just a key part of Star Wars’ identity at this point.
25 ♒ Poe Should Not Have Survived
The original drafts for The Force Awakens had Poe losing his life rather early in the script. Roughly twenty minutes into the film and Poe would have failed to survive his initial crash, leaving Finn alone and aliv🧔e with only Rey to guide him for the rest of the movie. Honestly? It kind of shows.
Considering Poe’s role in the seventh film, it’s quite obvious that Poe should not have survived that crash. The very logistics make little sense. Did he wake up early🀅 and leave Finn behind? Did he wake up late and somehow make it out of the sinkhole his shop was in? Either way, both solutions makes next to no sense, relying on a considering amount of suspension of disbelief.
24 ✤ ꦇ Han Went Back On All His Character Development
By the end of the Original Trilogy, Han has more or less grown ou💧t of his old smuggler self. Not only has he thrown his more selfish side down the gutter, he’s actively fighting on behalf of Leia, working to take down the Empire with every breath. By the end of the sixth film, Han has become a man worthy of Leia- someone who can be de💙pended on.
From reckless outlaw to reckless outlaw. An arc for the ages.
Then we get to the Sequel Trilogy where Han is not only a smuggler yet again, but he’s gone back on all his development. He’s Han from Episodes IV and V, not VI. Granted, this depiction of Han is infinitely more interesting than the Han he ended up becoming, but it’s nonetheless a shame the se✤quels chose to take a safe step back rather than boldly attempt to reinvent an older𓆏 Han Solo.
23 Darth Maul Already Had A Full Arc ⛎
For as blatantly pandering as it was, Disney knew exactly what it was doing by shoving Darth Maul into the end of Solo with little to no consideration for canon. Considering how much fans ate up the cameo, Disney made quite t🃏he smart call. Of course, appreci♒ated or not, Darth Maul's return isn’t going to mean much for most super fans.
Why? Because Darth Maul already came back. Not only did he return canonically, but he also had a full arc in The Clone Wars that was resolved in one of Rebels’ strongest episodes. Shoving Darth Maul into a prequel is just old hat at this point. There’s no ground🌼 left to tread and his cameo works under the pretense that fans will be unfamiliar with the very much canon animated sub-series.
22 Kylo Ren And Poe Must Have G𓂃rown Up Together 🧔
As Leia’s son, it goes without saying that Kylo Ren grew up around the Resistance. His relationship with Han clearly suggests that he was not raised with a fairly active father, but it’s obvious that his mother played a big role in his life. Which was actually the same case with Poe. Leia knew h♋im since he was a boy.
Pretty obvious Poe wasn't meant to stick around, right?
As a result, Poe and Kylo Ren not only must have grown up together, they also must have been quite familiar with one another before the proper start of the Sequel Trilogy. Of course, you wouldn’t tell considering how little they seem to regard each other. In their few scenes in VII, it’s as if they’re complete strangers.
21 Finn Wa🎐kes Up From His Coma Too Soon
Kylo Ren slicing Finn into a coma is one of those moments in the series where you can really see the inherent brutality of the franchise. With no discrimination, Episode VII’s dꦗeuteragonist is left incapacitated with Rey totaಌlly alone. It makes for a great hook for the sequel, but a sleepy Finn is a Finn who can’t be active.
Naturally, Episode VIII very quickly woke Finn up for the sequel. It does make sense narratively, as he needs to play a role given his status in the series, but it does undermine just how much weight his coma at the end of the previous movie had. Sometimes you 🎃do need to break continuity for story purposes, though.
20 🅰 Why Isn’t Chewie First Mate?
Han making Rey first mate in Episode VII is one of those moment🐓s meant to make the audience feel good, and it genuinely reflects well on both characters. Rey is given a surrogate home through Han, and Han demonstrates that he’s still the good-hearted man heꦦ was by the end of the OT.
The Sequel Trilogy is not kind to Chewbacca.
Logically, though, this does📖 raise a much more pressing concern: why the heck isn’t Chewie first mate? Chewbacca is Han’s best friend and only consistent companion, yet he refuses to given him the title he so rightly deserves. This is not about Rey not “deserving” the title- she does narratively- but Han b✱asically doing his closest friend wrong for no reason.
19 💦 Anyone Can Use The Force
Not all continuity breaking moments are bad, far from it actually. Sometimes, you genuinely do need to break continuity in order to fix a story. This goes doubly so for 𝄹Star Wars, a fr💦anchise unfortunately plagued by the Prequel Trilogy. In it, it was more or less established that the Force was genetic, but the sequels downplay that.
♔Rather than accepting George Lucas’ biology mumbo jumbo, the entire Sequel Trilogy embraces the idea that the Force is inherent. Not just the sequels either, though, both Rogue One and Solo help reinforce the Force as more spiritual than scientific. Considering how bland the concept was becoming, this was for the best.
18 ꦯ Snoke Rose In A Time With No Siths
Snoke is an odd character. Along with having no backstory whatsoever, he meets his end by the hal✤fway point of the Sequel Trilogy. Of course, this is done deliberately to deconstruct the iജdea that the franchise needs a larger than life antagonist to function, but while it may work narratively, it leaves some important questions unanswered.
Don't expect an explanation in Episode IX.
For starters, how did Snoke, a Sith, rise to power in a time period with no Siths? This is very much established as a fact in the series. Naturally, this is sadly a result of Snoke simply lacking a proper motivation, but that doesn’t exactly excuse his bizarre existence. Story is always more impo𝐆rtant than lore, but you need to keep lore functioning properly as well.
17 ဣ The First Order Mimics Thꦑe Empire To A Fault
JJ Abrꦬams quite frankly does not get enough flak for just how safe he played things with Episode VII. At its best, it’s a fantastic reminder of what Star Wars is capable of being while moving the franchise forward. At its worst, it's hopelessly derivative to the point of breaking continuity.
Take the First Order for instance. Rather than charging forward with their own plan of action, they more or less copy the Empire the whole film. Snoke is Palpatine, Kylo Ren acts as their Darth Vader, and they even build another Death Star. In universe, they should know that this did not wo🅷rk for the Empire so why would it work for them?
16 Snoke Is Nꦰeedlessly Cruel To Hux ෴
On one hand, it makes sense to have Snoke effectively spend more 🌜of their time together berating Hux. After all, Snoke is not a good man. What better way to demonstrate that than by showing how cruel he is to his subordinates? On the other hand, Hux never really does anything deserving of cruelty.
Hux kind of deserves it, but still.
Although it does still work to further characterize Snoke, it is perhaps taken one step too far. When it comes down to it, Snoke is still trying to run a successful regime and that requires being a compelling leader. Kylo Ren even implies that this is what Snoke was for him andꦐ the Supreme Leader’s interactions with Hux contradict that quite a bit.