The Resistance/ Rebellion and leadership

This thread is for all spoilers relating to the resistance plot (Leia, Poe, Finn, Rose, Holdo, Paige, Connix, Ackbar, Tallie, Ematt etc)

Hi All,
I see we have a thread for the FO and leadership but maybe it's good to create one for the resistance/rebellion side of things. I'm also seeing in other random threads really interesting thoughts about the current view of the resistance and what's ahead which people may wish to gather and share here.

TLJ ends with the resistance hanging by a thread - not looking terribly shiny (lol) but surviving just.. What's in store for IX for the resistance/rebellion everyone?

I was looking at the dialogue at the end of TLJ.. and I noticed something.. which could be meaningful, or meaningless lol.
This dialogue here, when Luke is facing off with Kylo on Crait
L: I failed you Ben. I’m sorry.
K: I’m sure you are!!! The resistance is dead! The war is over! And when I kill you. I will have killed the last Jedi!
L: Amazing. Every word of what you just said, was wrong. The rebellion is reborn today. The war is just beginning. And I will not be the last Jedi.

I think it's interesting that Kylo/Ben says the resistance is dead.. and Luke says the Rebellion has been reborn. I wonder if this is an indication that the original Rebellion will be it's form in IX.
The one other mention after this moment is when Rey is having her end conversation with Leia about what's ahead.
Rey asks: How do we build a rebellion from this?

Seems the focus has shifted from a resistance to a rebellion. Do you think this means anything?
I noticed throughout the movie there were a few more reference to rebel scum. lol.
How were the original rebels different to the resistance? [or maybe they weren't?]
anyone?

If Kylo is right about anything, hopefully it's that the war is over. I don't particularly want to see them return to that dynamic.

Kylo Men wrote:If Kylo is right about anything, hopefully it's that the war is over. I don't particularly want to see them return to that dynamic.

@Kylo Men

yeah, me neither... and for me there isn't a difference between the Resistance and the Rebellion... it's just a different word.
Maybe they called themselves "Resistance" while the Republic was still the legit authorities- with Hosnian Prime gone and the FO basically the new government in charge they are back to rebels ? I'don't really get it to be honest

I personally hope they don't go back to known concept of Rebellion against the big bad Empire ah- I mean FO. That would be such a disappointment.
I hope Luke's words were more like a metaphor - I can see revolts within the FO and on Planets the FO are exploiting for their own use.
A bit like in the Hunger Games... and that would be a great opportunity for SL Kylo to redeem himself. Showing compassion and wanting to change something... and causing a civil war within the FO that would destroy it from the inside.

Because it's a much more interesting and believable outcome than a few rebels winning again against a superior evil organization - and they has to win somehow, right? That's not the prequels and since VII and VIII ended on such a depressing note I hope IX will be the opposite.

Night Huntress wrote:

Kylo Men wrote:If Kylo is right about anything, hopefully it's that the war is over. I don't particularly want to see them return to that dynamic.

@Kylo Men

yeah, me neither... and for me there isn't a difference between the Resistance and the Rebellion... it's just a different word.
Maybe they called themselves "Resistance" while the Republic was still the legit authorities- with Hosnian Prime gone and the FO basically the new government in charge they are back to rebels ? I'don't really get it to be honest

I personally hope they don't go back to known concept of Rebellion against the big bad Empire ah- I mean FO. That would be such a disappointment.
I hope Luke's words were more like a metaphor - I can see revolts within the FO and on Planets the FO are exploiting for their own use.
A bit like in the Hunger Games... and that would be a great opportunity for SL Kylo to redeem himself. Showing compassion and wanting to change something... and causing a civil war within the FO that would destroy it from the inside.

Because it's a much more interesting and believable outcome than a few rebels winning again against a superior evil organization - and they has to win somehow, right? That's not the prequels and since VII and VIII ended on such a depressing note I hope IX will be the opposite.

@Night Huntress

I really think that they're going to be going for the Hunger Games approach. The Rebellion symbol ring will be the Star Wars equivalent of the mockingjay symbol/three-note whistle. There was tons of foreshadowing for this throughout TLJ, from Rose's ring to the Falthiers to Holdo's speech about how the Rebellion symbol provides hope to the downtrodden throughout the galaxy.

ISeeAnIsland wrote:

Night Huntress wrote:

Kylo Men wrote:If Kylo is right about anything, hopefully it's that the war is over. I don't particularly want to see them return to that dynamic.

@Kylo Men

yeah, me neither... and for me there isn't a difference between the Resistance and the Rebellion... it's just a different word.
Maybe they called themselves "Resistance" while the Republic was still the legit authorities- with Hosnian Prime gone and the FO basically the new government in charge they are back to rebels ? I'don't really get it to be honest

I personally hope they don't go back to known concept of Rebellion against the big bad Empire ah- I mean FO. That would be such a disappointment.
I hope Luke's words were more like a metaphor - I can see revolts within the FO and on Planets the FO are exploiting for their own use.
A bit like in the Hunger Games... and that would be a great opportunity for SL Kylo to redeem himself. Showing compassion and wanting to change something... and causing a civil war within the FO that would destroy it from the inside.

Because it's a much more interesting and believable outcome than a few rebels winning again against a superior evil organization - and they has to win somehow, right? That's not the prequels and since VII and VIII ended on such a depressing note I hope IX will be the opposite.

@Night Huntress

I really think that they're going to be going for the Hunger Games approach. The Rebellion symbol ring will be the Star Wars equivalent of the mockingjay symbol/three-note whistle. There was tons of foreshadowing for this throughout TLJ, from Rose's ring to the Falthiers to Holdo's speech about how the Rebellion symbol provides hope to the downtrodden throughout the galaxy.

@ISeeAnIsland

Right. And those people would be outside any Rebellion command structure.

And how did Katniss and the rest get people to start revolting? Visual imagery and propaganda ... you know like the Resistance ring.

Is Poe going to be running some propaganda operation from the back of the cave he's hiding in? I doubt it. Poe is too old school IMO. He will be about blowing sith up.

But what if Kylo is really serious about *everything* going down, including the FO structure? There is an argument to be made that he is serious because he said "Snoke" and the FO was definitely Snoke's thing.

So if that is the case, who says he doesn't do something as subversive as sith ... like throwing secret propaganda help and maybe even other kinds of help not towards Poe's organization, but to the grassroots effort? Whether Hux overthrown him or not, he could play a V for Vendetta kind of role ... or a Phillip Seymour Hoffman role in Hunger Games.

Something like that could be extremely interesting, and if it happened like that, Rey would be floored.

Kylo Men wrote:If Kylo is right about anything, hopefully it's that the war is over. I don't particularly want to see them return to that dynamic.

@Kylo Men

I wish I could believe that, but I don't see them getting rid of big space battles in the epic trilogy conclusion. No star destroyers, X-Wings and TIE fighters? I'd be more likely to believe that Kylo spends the entire Episode IX dressed in pink.

Maybe the Resistance will find a rich sponsor

Saracene wrote:

Kylo Men wrote:If Kylo is right about anything, hopefully it's that the war is over. I don't particularly want to see them return to that dynamic.

@Kylo Men

I wish I could believe that, but I don't see them getting rid of big space battles in the epic trilogy conclusion. No star destroyers, X-Wings and TIE fighters? I'd be more likely to believe that Kylo spends the entire Episode IX dressed in pink.

Maybe the Resistance will find a rich sponsor

@Saracene

I agree, as much as I wish otherwise just for the sake of a more unique story. I just am not believing that this is going to be anything other than the Resistance rebuilding because Luke inspired people to join their cause again, so they rise to meet the First Order's threat and triumph. It's why I don't believe the "Benperor" concept either, even if I think it's obvious that Kylo will eventually turn and become a destructive wedge in his own machine in IX.

Saracene wrote:

Kylo Men wrote:If Kylo is right about anything, hopefully it's that the war is over. I don't particularly want to see them return to that dynamic.

@Kylo Men

I wish I could believe that, but I don't see them getting rid of big space battles in the epic trilogy conclusion. No star destroyers, X-Wings and TIE fighters? I'd be more likely to believe that Kylo spends the entire Episode IX dressed in pink.

Maybe the Resistance will find a rich sponsor

@Saracene

Kylo could add some fuchsia to his outfit though, I wouldn't mind!

The only thing that could come out of this is if the sponsor is shady, like really shady. And then he/she comes with this brand new tech and everyone is excited and someone says - wait a minute, how are we better then the FO?

Am I bad person if I say I want Kylo to murder what's left of the Resistance(except Rey,Finn and Rose because these two are  the only salvageable part of them,Leia doesn't count  will probably die so she doesn't count).I'm sorry but they're all horrible people and TLJ left me rooting for Kylo to end the war.
Seriously though I just hope JJ really took the criticism of TFA being a rehash of ANH and doesn't turn 9 into another version of RTJ. We've already seen this story please be a little more creative LF. Say what you want about the prequels and GL as director but he  was at least trying to make something new while also respecting the OT and connecting it to the PT which I also think RJ was doing in TLJ so  please don't crew it up at the end like it was the case in RTJ(seriously the original ideas for that movie was so cool I really think it had the potential to be as great or on the same level of ESB if Lucas hadn't got his way back then).

Yeahh with Leia out of the picture it becomes rather boring and sad picture.

SkyStar wrote:Yeahh with Leia out of the picture it becomes rather boring and sad picture.

@SkyStar

Exactly also we already got a movie that had the Resistance winning again FO it's called TFA. Doing that again but this time with Supreme Leader Kylo possibly dying or whatever would be repetitive and boring(yes ANH also had the Rebellion defeating the Empire but back then it wasn't meant to be a trilogy so it's different and you still see to this day some hardcore SW fans complaining about GL doing another version of the Death Star+Ewokes) because the added drama of mother and son being on opposite sides is gone now so they better have him and Rey sharing more scenes together because it's the only real conflict left from TLJ that's truly interesting and dramatic.

Honestly, its going to be Resistance/Rebellion vs. First Order and the Resistance/Rebellion is going to win. For all the talk of grey morality and risk taking in TLJ, it all got shot to hell in the end. The B plot is going to be a generic good vs.evil battle.

CienaRee wrote:

SkyStar wrote:Yeahh with Leia out of the picture it becomes rather boring and sad picture.

@SkyStar

Exactly also we already got a movie that had the Resistance winning again FO it's called TFA. Doing that again but this time with Supreme Leader Kylo possibly dying or whatever would be repetitive and boring(yes ANH also had the Rebellion defeating the Empire but back then it wasn't meant to be a trilogy so it's different and you still see to this day  some hardcore SW fans complaining about GL doing another version of the Death Star+Ewokes) because the added drama of mother and son being on opposite sides is gone now so they better have him and Rey sharing more scenes together because it's the only real conflict left from TLJ that's truly interesting and dramatic.

@CienaRee

I am starting to think I am minority, because I actually don't hate Poe - after my second rewatch I understood his character and liked him a bit more. He is a revolution kind of figure that goes straight into action and gets acarried away. And Finn and Rose are charming.
That said it is just that even they are suposed to be like underdogs in TLJ and fail the whole movie just shows how they are better then Kylo for example and in the end it's just feels that I don't really know how to root for them. And I agree the rebels vs empire has been done and what is the point in such a direct repeat? For me Resistance lacks that spark they are talking about. With Leia there could be the drama, but now it is a bit puzzle here how to make the story compelling without doing the stuff that has been there before.

Mana wrote:Honestly, its going to be Resistance/Rebellion vs. First Order and the Resistance/Rebellion is going to win. For all the talk of grey morality and risk taking in TLJ, it all got shot to hell in the end. The B plot is going to be a generic good vs.evil battle.

@Mana

If that's what ens up happening than I would honestly question what exactly JJ meant about taking risks and taking the criticism about rehashing ANH seriously because unless the Reylo dynamic is the main thing or something ep.9 is going to be a very boring movie at least to me.
I really feel like the last episode will be even more decisive than TLJ since the latter is the middle chapter so there's more left to the story while the former would be the end of the saga for now so a large percent of the fandom will either love it or hate it or in between,IMO.

Mana wrote:Honestly, its going to be Resistance/Rebellion vs. First Order and the Resistance/Rebellion is going to win. For all the talk of grey morality and risk taking in TLJ, it all got shot to hell in the end. The B plot is going to be a generic good vs.evil battle.

@Mana

Honestly, I feel the same way. There are big differences now in how characters feel and regard each other (well, just Rey and Kylo really) in many ways, but Rian essentially just put everything back to status quo at the end. First Order big bads and downtrodden Resistance you're supposed to root for to rebuild. For all the marketing and in-movie teases at "WILL HE/SHE SWITCH SIDES?" nothing in the movie even approached that in the end. Everyone is solidly on the same side in which they began. Even Snoke being gone doesn't feel that enormous because I found him such a non-presence from the start. Kylo was always representative of the dark side and he still is.

I think they keep trying to leave the movie "open" to the next director, to the films' detriment. Because if Rian had truly changed the game, that would have forced J.J. to move forward in that direction instead of deciding the battle lines for himself.

CienaRee wrote:

Mana wrote:Honestly, its going to be Resistance/Rebellion vs. First Order and the Resistance/Rebellion is going to win. For all the talk of grey morality and risk taking in TLJ, it all got shot to hell in the end. The B plot is going to be a generic good vs.evil battle.

@Mana

If that's what ens up happening than I would honestly question what exactly JJ meant about taking risks and taking the criticism about rehashing ANH seriously because unless the Reylo dynamic is the main thing or something ep.9 is going to be a very boring movie at least to me.
I really feel like the last episode will be even more decisive than TLJ since the latter is the middle chapter so there's more left to the story while the former would be the end of the saga for now so a large percent of the fandom will either love it or hate it or in between,IMO.

@CienaRee

I feel like TLJ just crossed out every possible story direction that could have been different and interesting and left us with a beautiful, juicy Reylo dynamic as the only unique and interesting conflict about this story that could give the sequel trilogy a big emotional payoff.

Mana wrote:

CienaRee wrote:

Mana wrote:Honestly, its going to be Resistance/Rebellion vs. First Order and the Resistance/Rebellion is going to win. For all the talk of grey morality and risk taking in TLJ, it all got shot to hell in the end. The B plot is going to be a generic good vs.evil battle.

@Mana

If that's what ens up happening than I would honestly question what exactly JJ meant about taking risks and taking the criticism about rehashing ANH seriously because unless the Reylo dynamic is the main thing or something ep.9 is going to be a very boring movie at least to me.
I really feel like the last episode will be even more decisive than TLJ since the latter is the middle chapter so there's more left to the story while the former would be the end of the saga for now so a large percent of the fandom will either love it or hate it or in between,IMO.

@CienaRee

I feel like TLJ just crossed out every possible story direction that could have been different and interesting and left us with a beautiful, juicy Reylo dynamic as the only unique and interesting conflict about this story that could give the sequel trilogy a big emotional payoff.

@Mana

Yeah,I kind of feel like TLJ left characters like Poe and Finn with the least interesting arcs going into 9 because their were resolved in TLJ and the movie actually made some fans hate/dislike/not care about them. Rey's individual arc still has potential   interesting if they choose to portray the Resistance as more grey than just pure heroes otherwise it will be boring as hell leaving Kylo once again to be the most interesting character both when it comes to Reylo and his own arc which...isn't good if your aim it for people to love all the new characters not just him.
It would just be such a waste of time if they go with good s bad guys because Kylo's idea to destroy everything old in order to build something new is really interesting he just has to find the right way to do it which could be what his ep.9 arc is.

Saracene wrote:
I wish I could believe that, but I don't see them getting rid of big space battles in the epic trilogy conclusion. No star destroyers, X-Wings and TIE fighters? I'd be more likely to believe that Kylo spends the entire Episode IX dressed in pink.

Maybe the Resistance will find a rich sponsor

@Saracene

I personally had enough space battles in TLJ- don't get me wrong I really enjoyed them this time- usually I'm bored out of my mind during this kind of action (like in the prequels - uhhh ) but Rian made them cool and also emotional. With Paige dying and even Poe (I hate his behavior and decisions in TLJ but I like his character) with his great moves and stunts with his X-wing...and my favorite part- Kylo blowing up that hangar with Poe's X-Wing

I do agree that they won't get rid of space battles completely in IX- having a civil-war /uprising/revolution situation wouldn't rule out space battles but make them different... like imagine team Kylo against team Hugs...

Mana wrote:

CienaRee wrote:

Mana wrote:Honestly, its going to be Resistance/Rebellion vs. First Order and the Resistance/Rebellion is going to win. For all the talk of grey morality and risk taking in TLJ, it all got shot to hell in the end. The B plot is going to be a generic good vs.evil battle.

@Mana

If that's what ens up happening than I would honestly question what exactly JJ meant about taking risks and taking the criticism about rehashing ANH seriously because unless the Reylo dynamic is the main thing or something ep.9 is going to be a very boring movie at least to me.
I really feel like the last episode will be even more decisive than TLJ since the latter is the middle chapter so there's more left to the story while the former would be the end of the saga for now so a large percent of the fandom will either love it or hate it or in between,IMO.

@CienaRee

I feel like TLJ just crossed out every possible story direction that could have been different and interesting and left us with a beautiful, juicy Reylo dynamic as the only unique and interesting conflict about this story that could give the sequel trilogy a big emotional payoff.

@Mana

Have we seen the same movie?

Maybe my brain works totally different or I'm dumb or something...

You can argue about how bad the movie was- but Rian's ending left open so many possibilities for IX I can't even begin to list them all.
How did you came to the conclusion the only possible way this could go will be FO against Resistance???
I mean they can go that way- but if they decide to play it save and boring it's not because VIII left them no other option.

Night Huntress wrote:

Mana wrote:

CienaRee wrote:

Mana wrote:Honestly, its going to be Resistance/Rebellion vs. First Order and the Resistance/Rebellion is going to win. For all the talk of grey morality and risk taking in TLJ, it all got shot to hell in the end. The B plot is going to be a generic good vs.evil battle.

@Mana

If that's what ens up happening than I would honestly question what exactly JJ meant about taking risks and taking the criticism about rehashing ANH seriously because unless the Reylo dynamic is the main thing or something ep.9 is going to be a very boring movie at least to me.
I really feel like the last episode will be even more decisive than TLJ since the latter is the middle chapter so there's more left to the story while the former would be the end of the saga for now so a large percent of the fandom will either love it or hate it or in between,IMO.

@CienaRee

I feel like TLJ just crossed out every possible story direction that could have been different and interesting and left us with a beautiful, juicy Reylo dynamic as the only unique and interesting conflict about this story that could give the sequel trilogy a big emotional payoff.

@Mana

Have we seen the same movie?

Maybe my brain works totally different or I'm dumb or something...

You can argue about how bad the movie was- but Rian's ending left open so many possibilities for IX I can't even begin to list them all.
How did you came to the conclusion the only possible way this could go will be FO against Resistance???
I mean they can go that way- but if they decide to play it save and boring it's not because VIII left them no other option.

@Night Huntress

Because that's what they set up? The end of the movie emphasizes that its the Resistance vs. The FO
Luke literally says 'The rebellion is reborn today, the war has just begun and I will not be the last Jedi'

Mana wrote:

Night Huntress wrote:

Mana wrote:

CienaRee wrote:

Mana wrote:Honestly, its going to be Resistance/Rebellion vs. First Order and the Resistance/Rebellion is going to win. For all the talk of grey morality and risk taking in TLJ, it all got shot to hell in the end. The B plot is going to be a generic good vs.evil battle.

@Mana

If that's what ens up happening than I would honestly question what exactly JJ meant about taking risks and taking the criticism about rehashing ANH seriously because unless the Reylo dynamic is the main thing or something ep.9 is going to be a very boring movie at least to me.
I really feel like the last episode will be even more decisive than TLJ since the latter is the middle chapter so there's more left to the story while the former would be the end of the saga for now so a large percent of the fandom will either love it or hate it or in between,IMO.

@CienaRee

I feel like TLJ just crossed out every possible story direction that could have been different and interesting and left us with a beautiful, juicy Reylo dynamic as the only unique and interesting conflict about this story that could give the sequel trilogy a big emotional payoff.

@Mana

Have we seen the same movie?

Maybe my brain works totally different or I'm dumb or something...

You can argue about how bad the movie was- but Rian's ending left open so many possibilities for IX I can't even begin to list them all.
How did you came to the conclusion the only possible way this could go will be FO against Resistance???
I mean they can go that way- but if they decide to play it save and boring it's not because VIII left them no other option.

@Night Huntress

Because that's what they set up? The end of the movie emphasizes that its the Resistance vs. The FO
Luke literally says 'The rebellion is reborn today, the war has just begun and I will not be the last Jedi'

@Mana

It has been set up like this - but it doesn't necessearly mean that the the rebellion will play out EXACTLY like it played out in the previous movies.

There're hundreds of possibilties how that can play out in IX.


There will be PEW PEW PEW moments it the movie that's for sure - but we don't know how they're going to show it. By taking the route of the fraction withing the FO (with Hux vs. Kyo) or with Finn leading the Troopers rebellion or the word of mouth spreading across the Galaxy amongst common people to raise the voice against FO...

Mana wrote:Honestly, its going to be Resistance/Rebellion vs. First Order and the Resistance/Rebellion is going to win. For all the talk of grey morality and risk taking in TLJ, it all got shot to hell in the end. The B plot is going to be a generic good vs.evil battle.

@Mana

I figured that this is how things were going to go after TFA. Honestly, SW is pretty simple and all this talk of big-picture complexity is all fluff. When all is said and done, Kylo, depressed!Luke and Reylo will be the only risk-taking parts of this trilogy, and the rest is pretty standard good guys vs bad guys.

I do root for the Resistance though; I'm good at compartmentalising and for me Kylo is separate from the rest of the FO even though he's now heading it

I think that now that Rey is incorporated into the Resistance, they could do something interesting with her connection with Kylo, which could potentially cause tension between her and the rest of the Resistance. If they knew about it, I bet they'd immediately want her to use it against him.

Darth_Awakened wrote:

Mana wrote:

Night Huntress wrote:

Mana wrote:

CienaRee wrote:

Mana wrote:Honestly, its going to be Resistance/Rebellion vs. First Order and the Resistance/Rebellion is going to win. For all the talk of grey morality and risk taking in TLJ, it all got shot to hell in the end. The B plot is going to be a generic good vs.evil battle.

@Mana

If that's what ens up happening than I would honestly question what exactly JJ meant about taking risks and taking the criticism about rehashing ANH seriously because unless the Reylo dynamic is the main thing or something ep.9 is going to be a very boring movie at least to me.
I really feel like the last episode will be even more decisive than TLJ since the latter is the middle chapter so there's more left to the story while the former would be the end of the saga for now so a large percent of the fandom will either love it or hate it or in between,IMO.

@CienaRee

I feel like TLJ just crossed out every possible story direction that could have been different and interesting and left us with a beautiful, juicy Reylo dynamic as the only unique and interesting conflict about this story that could give the sequel trilogy a big emotional payoff.

@Mana

Have we seen the same movie?

Maybe my brain works totally different or I'm dumb or something...

You can argue about how bad the movie was- but Rian's ending left open so many possibilities for IX I can't even begin to list them all.
How did you came to the conclusion the only possible way this could go will be FO against Resistance???
I mean they can go that way- but if they decide to play it save and boring it's not because VIII left them no other option.

@Night Huntress

Because that's what they set up? The end of the movie emphasizes that its the Resistance vs. The FO
Luke literally says 'The rebellion is reborn today, the war has just begun and I will not be the last Jedi'

@Mana

It has been set up like this - but it doesn't necessearly mean that the the rebellion will play out EXACTLY like it played out in the previous movies.

There're hundreds of possibilties how that can play out in IX.


There will be PEW PEW PEW moments it the movie that's for sure - but we don't know how they're going to show it. By taking the route of the fraction withing the FO (with Hux vs. Kyo) or with Finn leading the Troopers rebellion or the word of mouth spreading across the Galaxy amongst common people to raise the voice against FO...

@Darth_Awakened

I was praying that we would get a hint of Finn being inspired to encourage rebel stormtroopers, and apparently there is scene where Finn tries to get some stormtroopers to defect. But guess where it went? In the deleted scenes pile. :/
But I really hope JJ will pick up the ball from there.....there are so many options for Finn, especially with him being a former Stormtrooper.

Mana wrote:

Night Huntress wrote:

Mana wrote:

CienaRee wrote:

Mana wrote:Honestly, its going to be Resistance/Rebellion vs. First Order and the Resistance/Rebellion is going to win. For all the talk of grey morality and risk taking in TLJ, it all got shot to hell in the end. The B plot is going to be a generic good vs.evil battle.

@Mana

If that's what ens up happening than I would honestly question what exactly JJ meant about taking risks and taking the criticism about rehashing ANH seriously because unless the Reylo dynamic is the main thing or something ep.9 is going to be a very boring movie at least to me.
I really feel like the last episode will be even more decisive than TLJ since the latter is the middle chapter so there's more left to the story while the former would be the end of the saga for now so a large percent of the fandom will either love it or hate it or in between,IMO.

@CienaRee

I feel like TLJ just crossed out every possible story direction that could have been different and interesting and left us with a beautiful, juicy Reylo dynamic as the only unique and interesting conflict about this story that could give the sequel trilogy a big emotional payoff.

@Mana

Have we seen the same movie?

Maybe my brain works totally different or I'm dumb or something...  

You can argue about how bad the movie was- but Rian's ending left open so many possibilities for IX I can't even begin to list them all.
How did you came to the conclusion the only possible way this could go will be FO against Resistance???
I mean they can go that way- but if they decide to play it save and boring it's not because VIII left them no other option.

@Night Huntress

Because that's what they set up? The end of the movie emphasizes that its the Resistance vs. The FO
Luke literally says 'The rebellion is reborn today, the war has just begun and I will not be the last Jedi'

@Mana

He did say that, but what if the Rebellion is not made up of the usual suspects? Maybe the Rebellion is the grassroots and not Poe? Maybe Ben ends up being the Rebellion? Also, what if Rey isn't going to be the only new Jedi? What if Ben is one too? I'm not saying you're wrong. You could very well be right.  I just know that from the first time I saw the movie that I thought that Luke was telling Ben his future as well. My instincts might be wrong, but that whole moment was so intensely Ben and Luke. It was almost like Rey was an afterthought.

Did anyone else get the feeling that Luke's words about the Rebellion and Jedi might end up being foreshadowing for Ben?