Star Wars Finally Gets Its Villain Game Right After Nearly a Decade

It’s been a long nine years, but, according to Screen Rant, Star Wars has finally solved its issue with villains. The sequels faced lots of criticism when they first came out and they’re still not very popular. A lot of this was because they didn’t handle the original trilogy’s heroes well. But the villains got even more flak for being too much like the bad guys from earlier movies and shows.

Take ‘The Force Awakens’ – it followed too many of the same steps as ‘A New Hope.’ And then there was Palpatine’s comeback in ‘The Rise of Skywalker.’ It felt like the creators were out of new ideas and just brought back an old favorite because they knew fans liked him.

Kylo Ren was different, though. People actually liked him, especially in ‘The Force Awakens.’ He showed emotion, and even though some didn’t like him killing Han Solo, he was a complex character. He started as a bit of a Darth Vader copy – his own grandson, with a similar look and vibe. But his unique story with Rey and his clear slide into the dark side kept him interesting.

But by ‘The Rise of Skywalker,’ things got messy. Instead of going full villain, Kylo Ren ended up just repeating Vader’s story by turning good again and even fighting alongside Rey. And the big bad of the movie? It was Palpatine, not Kylo, back from the dead in a confusing twist.

The same villains keep popping up in Star Wars. Palpatine is the main bad guy in all nine Skywalker Saga movies. Vader is the villain in the original trilogy, becomes the villain in the prequel trilogy, and inspires the villain in the sequel trilogy. Even the TV shows, like ‘Star Wars Rebels’ and ‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch,’ can’t escape Vader and Palpatine.

The sequels really missed a chance to bring in new villains. When George Lucas thought about what the sequels might be like, he even considered bringing back Darth Maul as a Sith master and introducing Darth Talon as his apprentice. That could have been exciting and fresh.

But there’s good news – things are looking up. Recent Star Wars shows have started exploring new stories and characters. Grand Admiral Thrawn showed up in ‘Rebels’ and ‘Ahsoka,’ and might even appear in ‘The Mandalorian & Grogu.’ ‘The Acolyte’ introduced Darth Plagueis and brand-new villains like Qimir and Osha.

And there’s more coming. There’s talk of a new Star Wars movie with Rey, set 15 years after ‘The Rise of Skywalker.’ It could introduce some really cool new villains. So, it looks like Star Wars is finally fixing its villain problem, nearly 10 years after the sequels started.

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