The Core Problem with Star Wars Today | No Scope & No Scale | Let Me Explain
Star Wars isn’t just a franchise… it’s a galaxy.
A galaxy that was built on the foundation of two things, a sprawling galactic war and the lineage of the Skywalkers.
That’s the DNA of Star Wars. Yet for the last decade, Disney has seemed to forget that. Instead of vast conflicts that ripple across star systems, we’ve been served up small, isolated, and personal stories that feel like they belong in a side anthology, not the main banquet.
And let me be clear here, there’s nothing wrong with a smaller story every once in a while. Andor, Solo, even parts of The Mandalorian scratched that itch. But when that’s the only type of story being told, Star Wars begins to lose its identity.
This franchise isn’t meant to be a quiet character study. It was born from the ashes of rebellion and empire, prophecy and bloodline, war and destiny.
The Skywalker Factor
Before you get your panties in a bunch, Yes, the Skywalkers matter. And will ALWAYS matter.
You can’t sideline them without ripping out the heart of Star Wars.
George Lucas knew it. Fans know it (maybe won’t want to admit it), and God knows Disney pretends they don’t know it.
But then again they did try to duct tape the problem in The Rise of Skywalker by slapping the last name onto Rey in the most ham fisted way possible.
That wasn’t a fix. That was a band aid on a lightsaber wound.
The solution? Simple. Either dive into the past, where the Jedi first began discussing the prophecy of the Chosen One, or reveal that Luke Skywalker had a child who now carries that legacy forward.
Because when you center the story on the Skywalkers, it feels Star Wars. Their choices reverberate across generations. Their bloodline is the thread that ties the saga together.
The Scale Problem
Scope. Scale. Stakes.
That’s what made the original and prequel trilogies epic. The fall of a Republic. The rise of an Empire. The war of the Rebellion. These weren’t confined to a single planet or a handful of characters… they shook the entire galaxy.
Contrast that with modern Star Wars content.
As fun as The Mandalorian was in its first couple of seasons, and as much as I appreciated parts of Ahsoka, everything feels…small. The environments, the conflicts, the arcs. They’re more like side quests in a video game than galaxy shaking events.
And Star Wars doesn’t thrive on side quests it thrives on sagas.
A Way Forward
Disney doesn’t have to keep running in circles with mid tier spinoffs. They can fix this. They just need to bring back the scale and scope.
The way to do that is through more adventures of the Skywalkers, through bold ventures into the Old Republic or even escapades into the far future.
Make it galactic. The story should shake the foundations of the galaxy, not just a single village.
Make it legendary. Don’t shy away from the prophecy, the chosen one, or the mythic scale that defined the franchise.
Make it Skywalker—or at least Skywalker adjacent. They are Star Wars. Pretending otherwise is what got us here in the first place.
One Last Note
The Volume is absolutely impressive tech. But it’s not there yet to be used like it has been.
Overusing it has hurt every production that leaned too heavily on it. It makes the galaxy (and really any movie) look flat and lifeless.
Learn how to use it sparingly.
Star Wars needs to feel limitless again, not like it’s trapped in a dome of LED screens.
For me, Star Wars lost its soul when it lost its scale.
Until Lucasfilm remembers that this saga is about big wars, big stakes, and the Skywalker legacy, it’ll keep feeling like a galaxy that got a whole lot smaller.
