ST Trio of new leads: discussion about the dynamic of what this means

Actually I think the new characters and original trilogy characters will get a pretty even split of the time. With this film acting as the passing of the torch onto the next generation, so that the new characters will lead from Episode 8 on wards.

 

I don't know about Lucas but I suspect Abrams has the guts to put the ST on a female lead's shoulder. That being said, I think we'll see another male Skywalker since from the PT to the OT it's a father to son story and it makes more sense to follow that with a third male Skywalker then break that continuity with Luke having a daughter. Of course nothing precludes the possibility of Luke and is potential mate having twins.

As for any of Han and Leia's children, it will depend on how many they have. If they have more then one child I have a hard time seeing one of them hanging back in the background unless they're a ridiculously young age, say around 10 or younger.

 

Hazarding a guess.

A Solo kid, and the protagonist-- Female.
The 'Han Solo Type' lead, possibly male or female.
The force sensitive 'Luke Skywalker style' lead, likely male but not necessarily a Skywalker or Solo. (This would be the role that Todd from Breaking Bad and those other male actors would have tried out for)

 

I agree, I think that was a problem with the PT.

The issue I see with having the "Skywalker" or "Solo" children as the main characters is that it really takes away from the Heroes Journey story that is so central and important to Star Wars. Anakin was a slave and probably expected to be his whole life. Luke was a farmer to dreamed about being a pilot but probably was never going to leave. They are ordinary people who were pushed into and choose to venture out into the world. Thats a big element of the Hero Journey.

With Luke and Han and Leia's kids, we have privaliged children, born into the life of a Jedi or important and public person. They would probably be excepected to do something big and important with their lives etcs......

 

Except when Anakin showed affection for Padme it was a problem. So its not just Jedi with other Jedi

And using artificial means only creates seperation of the individual Jedi don't know about their children created this way. If the Jedi responsibile still raise their child, thats still a problematic attachment.

 

I totally agree. I think the lead essentially has to start off thinking he's no one special, and then go on to prove himself wrong. Then the kids in the audience, who also started out feeling "ordinary", can identify with the protagonist and leave the theater feeling just as adventurous and full of potential as he is.

 

My wishlist for the trio leads:

1) Young female force user/main protag who's not a Skywalker or Solo. This person would be the plucked-from-obscurity/hero's-journey-out-of-humble-beginnings character. It would not be obvious she's that important early on in the story and would be downplayed in the marketing.

2) and 3) Solo twins, older than the main protag, possibly with kids of their own given Han and Leia's ages. One of them is the red herring main protagonist; the red-blooded, square-jawed do-gooder descendant of our beloved heroes. One or both are newly-minted Jedi Knights. Then, the red herring main protag either dies or serves the bad guy. The other becomes the secondary protagonist as #1 steps up.

Random notes: I don't like the idea of Skywalker/Solo "royalty" becoming the new savior of the galaxy. The expectation of it, however, provides a great opportunity for a dramatic bait-and-switch, which seems to be a JJ trademark anyway. I also still don't like Luke having a kid, especially a Jedi kid. Luke is more the wise uncle type who kicked too much ass to settle down. It'd also be nice to have a main female character who isn't automatically demoted to someone's girlfriend. Also, I think romance subplots should be avoided in the first film, anyway, just like in TPM and ANH.

 

This site goes through the phases of the Heroes Journey as per Joseph Campbell

http://www.thewritersjourney.com/hero's_journey.htm

The first step is - 1. THE ORDINARY WORLD. The hero, uneasy, uncomfortable or unaware, is introduced sympathetically so the audience can identify with the situation or dilemma. The hero is shown against a background of environment, heredity, and personal history. Some kind of polarity in the hero’s life is pulling in different directions and causing stress.


Luke and Anakin have this element to their stories. Someone who is a child of someone like Luke or Han, grew up in that world, knowing they will be Jedi, expected to do something in the universe etc.... doesn't have this starting position. The only way to make this work for the children of Luke/Han/Leia is if the orignal heroes have tried to shield their children from the kind of lives they lived. If Luke doesn't want his family to follow in his foot steps because of the pain it caused him. If Han and Leia don't want their children flying around the galaxy in the Falcon etc... That would create the right kind of origin for the heroes, and set up phase 2, which is the call to action.
Lu

 

Romance wasn't avoided in either TPM or ANH. There are moments in both films were 1 or 2 characters is clearly fostering feelings for another character.

 

I think Han and Leia will be divorced and their child will live with Han, sheltered on Corillia and away from Jedi and the Force. Just my personal speculation.

 

I have mixed feelings on who the hero should be. While I fully believe this saga is about the Skywalkers, I don't necessarily feel that they should be the only ones with the power to defeat the villain.
I love the "Heroes Journey" layout, but agree with others on whether this would work well with the Skywalker / Solo kids or not -- unless they were separated from their parents at an early age and then later reunited.

 

Sure, but they weren't subplots.

 

Unrelated 3rd male character is the love triangle factor between the Skywalker son and the Solo daughter. Both are in love with him and he can't choose which one. Hey now!

 

I like this rationale.

BUT...wouldn't it be interesting if our lead, the Skywalker son, for some reason or other rejected his Jedi training, rejected following his father's footsteps, and became somewhat of a lone wolf? That would at least leave him on the "bottom rung" of society in a similar fashion to Anakin and Luke, and could continue the Hero Journey you describe.

I think this route would make for some intriguing storytelling. What if his mother, died at some point and was so shaken up that he becomes a recluse? JJ would need to include a flashback or something, which I know would break Star Wars tradition, but I think it would be interesting. Or maybe he discovered what happened to grampa Anakin and absolutely feared the possibility of being lured to the Dark Side, so much so that he leaves the Jedi Order, becomes that "ordinary" person, and rejects the lifestyle of intergalactic renown that his father has so willingly embraced. Or what if he simply doesn't like papa Luke's ideals and chooses to live a life of a pirate or smuggler like Cade Skywalker in the EU? Could shake things up a bit. If any of these are possible story points, a portion of the movie could then be spent on a wild search for Skywalker's son, as he would be the only one known to have the potential to defeat the new galactic threat.

The second part of the trio would be the solo child. The Solo child could perhaps be a fully-trained Jedi, who Luke dispatches on the search for his son. This one I could see being female (Ksenia Solo anyone?)
The third part of our trio I could see being the Han Solo type. Perhaps he is the pilot that the female Solo Jedi child hires on the wild search for Skywalker's son.

 

I want Episode 7 to be a really fancy Three's Company remake. Luke turns to the Dark Side, resurrects the Empire, slaughters the New Jedi Order... but then we find out it was all just a goofy misunderstanding!

 

Ben , Jaina & Jacen .......

 

Thinking about it i am not sure if i want Luke to have a kid. All depends on how they shape the Jedi in the ST. If they go back to how it was in the PT then i wouldn't really want him to have one.

 

I don't think the new leads will be related-at least not all of them. No Ben, Jaina, and Jacen. Enough of that already.

Most of the major fantasy franchises with young people have involved a trio that had 2 males and a female. The only exceptions were those that had a HUGE ensemble (LOTR and Avengers) or single-character based films (Indiana Jones, Iron Man, James Bond, etc.)

Besides the PT and OT,

The original Spiderman (Peter, Harry, Mary)
POTR (Jack, Will, Elizabeth)
Dark Knight (Bruce, Harvey, Rachel)
Harry Potter (Harry, Ron, Hermione)
Twilight (you know the 3)
Hunger Games (Katniss, Petah, Gale)

This formula works and can incorporate important secondary characters. They don't always have to involved a triangle but often do at some point in some way.

So I'd assume that this formula would include some aspect of that. Could be a brother/sister/outsider. Could be brother/brother/ousider female. But to create tension, I HIGHLY doubt they will all be related.

 

I'd like only one child of the big three to be a lead. I'm thinking Leia and Han's daughter would be good - a bit of a spoiled brat who kind of gets pulled into the adventure unwillingly maybe. I really hope we get two females in the new trio, although I doubt it.

The idea of Luke's son is really dull to me. And I hope if we have to have a jedi in the new trio, that it's only the one!

 

I also don't want multiple offspring unless the conflict between them is integral to the story. That interplay could be interesting. Perhaps a new prophecy about one who will "keep the balance" and all money is on a male offpsring when it ends up being a female.

Perhaps there's a fourth co-lead that provides a romantic interest who isn't what they seem and is actually evil and lures one of the main leads toward darkness.

 

I would love to see a non force user as an offspring of Solo or Skywalker.