Re: Star Wars: Episode IX - December 20, 2019
You can really see Mark Hamill trying really hard, and failing, to hide his disappointment in the film. I don't blame him. While I actually liked a lot about the film, Luke's part was disappointing. If it had led somewhere interesting, then it would have been fine. But it didn't.
I thought of a way to approach Luke in Episode IX that would be interesting. Since J.J. wants to tie all the trilogies together, it would be cool to see what happens to Jedi after they die. Go with Luke on the journey of the Jedi afterlife as he interacts with the other Jedi ghosts (Obi-Wan, Anakin, Yoda, and Qui Gonn). This would be a way to show a side of the force not seen before and allow Luke's story to continue.
While new fans may not care about Luke's story continuing, I suspect that many hardcore fans care much more about that than having a movie sole about the new cast. Kylo Ren is the only new character that has complicated and compelling motivations. And I say this as someone who likes the new cast for the most part. while Episode IIX should have added layers to these characters, it actually stripped many of the layers that were there. I liked TLJ (except for parts of Luke's story) but it didn't really set up a third movie very well. Johnson really seemed to care only about his film.