Credit: LucasfilmTo say that there are many things fans hate about the Star Wars sequel trilogy would be an understatement. While Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens (2015) was mostly well-received, its sequels, Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi (2017) and Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker (2019), remain the most hated entries in the series.
Besides the fact that there was no direction from the beginning, with Disney and Lucasfilm seemingly leaving directors JJ Abrams (The Force Awakens, The Rise of Skywalker) and Rian Johnson (The Last Jedi) to their own devices (or perhaps interfering far too much), there are plenty of things about the three films that often come under fire from fans.
From shocking deaths to inexplicable character decisions, we’ve decided to pick the top 10 most hated scenes in the entire sequel trilogy in chronological order.
10. Han Solo’s Death — The Force Awakens
Even to this day, there are many fans who consider The Force Awakens to be a solid movie, despite essentially being a carbon copy of Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope (1977). But with that said, all that set-up and promise was, of course, completely squandered.
But even if its two sequels hadn’t become the most hated entries in the franchise, The Force Awakens still commits the unforgivable sin of killing Han Solo (Harrison Ford). While bringing back legacy characters does carry a risk, we don’t think fans will ever forgive JJ Abrams. Well, at least Han Solo returns as a ghost or something in The Rise of Skywalker.
On a serious note, a popular theory suggests Han Solo may have actually survived.
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9. Lightsaber Toss — The Last Jedi
It’s actually quite tricky to determine whether the most controversial entry in the Star Wars sequel trilogy is The Last Jedi or The Rise of Skywalker. But we’d probably hedge our bets on The Last Jedi, seeing as it isn’t just considered bad, but also pretty blasphemous.
Just minutes into the film, picking up where The Force Awakens ends, we return to Rey (Daisy Ridley) as she stands before Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), having located him on Ahch-To and handed him his lightsaber, as seen at the end of the previous film. But what does he do? He tosses it over his shoulder and walks off. Yep, we waited two years for that.
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8. Got Blue Milk? — The Last Jedi
Still not quite over the fact that Luke Skywalker has tossed away his lightsaber like it’s nothing more than a foreign object that got stuck in the engine of his X-Wing? Well, before you have time to recover, there’s another scene that doesn’t do the legendary Jedi any favors.
For reasons that are unclear, in The Last Jedi, Luke decides to show Rey how he acquires his calcium supplements on Ahch-To, as we see him sourcing milk from the teats of an alien sea cow on the rocky coast of his island. After chugging the liquid, he nods his approval (it feels like a weird commercial), before Rey and the creature share a look of confusion and disgust.
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7. “I’m Mary Poppins, Y’all!” — The Last Jedi
Before The Last Jedi truly commits to adding insult to injury where Luke is concerned, we must, of course, spend some time with his sister, Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher). Naturally, Fisher is great, but she has one of the most unexpected moments in the film.
When Leia’s ship is blown to smithereens by the First Order, she ends up in the cold vacuum of outer space. But moments later, just as she’s turning to ice, she opens her eyes and flies back to the safety of a nearby ship, despite the fact we’ve never seen her use the Force. Not to mention that flight is a skill that could have come in useful for the Jedi a long time ago.
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6. Rose Saves Finn Because Reasons — The Last Jedi
One of the biggest criticisms of The Last Jedi is the character Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran), who was so disliked by fans that she was relegated to a background character in The Rise of Skywalker, while the actress was trolled on social media by creatures of unknown origin.
While we’d love to see Rose return to the world of Star Wars in some shape or form, the scene where she stops Finn (John Boyega) from giving his life to save the Resistance makes zero sense. Her reason? “That’s how we’re gonna win. Not fighting what we hate, saving what we love”. A lovely sentiment, Rose. Truly. In any other situation besides this one.
5. Snoke’s Death — The Last Jedi
“I can see everything,” a smug Snoke (Andy Serkis) tells Rey, just before his apprentice, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), uses Force telekinesis to turn the Supreme Leader’s own lightsaber against him, cutting in half Maul-style. It’s satisfying, but then the issue of logic sinks in.
The most baffling thing about this powerful being getting the wool pulled over his eyes so easily is the fact that Snoke, the trilogy’s main villain, an insanely powerful Sith Lord, has been killed just halfway through. For no other reason than a cheap “gotcha” moment, which is something that plagues The Last Jedi–this list’s biggest culprit–from start to finish.
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4. Luke Skywalker’s Death — The Last Jedi
After watching Kylo Ren kill his own father in The Force Awakens (although a popular theory suggests Han turned the lightsaber on himself), in 2015, fans realized that anything was possible in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. But, of course, this isn’t always a good thing.
Still, it came as a shock when we saw Luke Skywalker become one with the Force in The Last Jedi. While his Force-projection duel with Kylo Ren during the Battle of Crait is one of the more satisfying parts of the film (let it be said that there are plenty, which leaves many fans conflicted), it’s further proof that legacy characters were only brought back to be disposed of.
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3. “They Fly Now?!” — The Rise of Skywalker
Just when you probably started to think that we were picking on The Last Jedi, we finally arrive at The Rise of Skywalker. While there are many moments in this film that leave you scratching your head, one of the worst culprits is a scene that quickly became a meme.
While being pursued by First Order troopers, Rey, Finn, BB-8, C-3PO (Anthony Daniels), Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaacs) are perplexed to see their enemy launch into the air using jetpacks, repeating the line, “They fly now?” over and over again. In turn, this leaves fans equally confused, as jetpacks are nothing new in Star Wars.
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2. Palpatine’s Return — The Rise of Skywalker
The trailers for The Rise of Skywalker were as full of promise as The Force Awakens. While the second had the most epic rendition of the iconic Star Wars score, it was the first one that got fans excited, as the familiar cackle of Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) can be heard.
Naturally, fans went crazy with excitement, as the prospect of seeing the Emperor return was a thrilling one, to say the least. Sadly, the Sith Lord’s return doesn’t really make much sense, and ultimately ruins the end of Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi (1983), and pales in comparison to McDiarmid’s performance in the prequel trilogy (1999 — 2005).
1. “The Name’s Skywalker, Rey Skywalker” — The Rise of Skywalker
Personally speaking, we don’t mind Rey. After all, Daisy Ridley gives the role her best, and the character is likable enough. What doesn’t do her character justice is the writing after The Force Awakens, as she continues to go from strength to strength with little explanation.
But what really gets fans’ blood boiling is the last scene in The Rise of Skywalker. At Luke Skywalker’s old residence on Tatooine, a passing stranger asks Rey who she is, to which Rey replies, “Rey, Rey Skywalker”. This might just be the most hated scene in the sequel trilogy. Well, at least she doesn’t suddenly turn to face the camera and fire her blaster at the screen.
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Which scenes do you hate the most in the Star Wars sequel trilogy? Sound off in the comments down below!