Speculation Staying Away From Predictability...

I know we're all excited but these are some of my thoughts about the story for the new films.

1. No kids for Luke. Keep him a bit mysterious and hermit-like
2. Han and Leia are not together. Maybe they were even married at one point, but keep it real.
3. Only one Skywalker heir, maybe Leia's son.
4. No female Skywalker Jedi badass. It's so predictable.
5. Play against expectations...go darker, grittier.
7. Keep Yoda as a Spirit Guide.
8. Make the bad guy or the Vader replacement something incredibly iconic and amazing....put an extraordinary amount of work into what it will be.

I'd like to see a badass female lead who isn't a Skywalker or even necessarily a Jedi.

I don't know that Luke needs to be "hermit-like" but he doesn't need a solid romance either. Maybe he's a Bond-type character and has a different woman in each film.

Given the history of the saga to this point, some of your points are not predictable.

1. I like Ben, as a character the way he was created and developed works (for me), but that does not mean TPTB agree with such sentiment, so you may get your wish for no kids by Luke.
2. I think that having Han and Leia together would be "keeping it real", just because the vast majority of people in the real world fail to pick the right mates (and stick with them,) doesn't mean they can't do so in the fantasy world.
3. TPTB may see it your way, I for one like Jaina, Jacen, Anakin, and Ben, two of those four are dead and the other two would be perfect as the main protagonists in the ST.
4. Again, this is so not predictable if or when it happens. I don't understand the ardor for a female hero, I'm not against such a character, in fact I hope it happens and hope she will be Jaina Solo, but folks act as if there aren't strong female characters all over the place. Young women and girls should be looking up to their Mothers first as an example and not need someone in a film or on tv to turn to as hero/role model. I know there are Mothers as good role models out there (my mother was one, and I'm a guy), unfortunately I've born witness to the poor examples as well, but the same holds true (good or bad) for men and their sons (my dad was a scumbag, which is why Darth Vader hit home for me.)
5. I would love to see the ST go darker, but I doubt TPTB will totally concur with it--just avoid Jar-Jar/Ewok-esque stuff and we should be okay.
6. I wouldn't mind this, or perhaps Luke becomes the spirirt guide to the next generation.
7. I agree with having the bad guy hold a powerful/memorable presence, for me Darth Sidious fills that role (up to his death), but I can see how Vader was that guy at the time. Given the information from the PT and RotJ, we now know that Vader was never the big bad ***, but just a minion of the real big bad ***.

I loved TESB and ROTS. They should make more SW movies who are a bit darker than the others.

I can still remember my youngest nephew was scared when he saw Anakin's body being on fire (ROTS). But yeah, is much younger than I am.

One person's predictability is another's indispensable manna.

Ugh, no thanks.

Got to agree with you there... Star Wars was a smash hit in 1977 in part because it was lighter and more fun then most of the other films it was competing against. The moment you make it really dark and gritty is the moment it ceases to be Star Wars. The RoTS and ESB stand as the darkest Star Wars should ever get... To go darker then that is to take away the spark of hope which is the core of the entire franchise.

Need a change from a Skywalker being tempted by the darkside, blah, blah, blah. I seem to remember that Lucas planned the battle between good and evil being clearly defined in the ST. Sounds like we are in for a good old fashioned knock down, drag out.

Episode 7 should be a fun adventure story. Episode 8 should be the dark one and Episode 9 will be a mix of 7 and 8. Sort of like 6 was for 4 and 5

I'm predicting the twins Jaina and Jaina will be used. If Arndt has anything to remember as a fan, it's to mirror the events of the other films, and using these characters in the script is one way to start things off. Well, I'm hoping he does, anyway. lol

The only thing I'm predicting and asking for is the twins, but Mara Jade would be nice, too. If this whole original storyline ST endeavour should fail, at least they can go back and make the Thrawn Trilogy. The only thing that would ruin the chances of that happening is not having these two exist. There's nothing else that I can think of that could destroy that probability.

Because that's not predictable at all.....

obviously... That model works so don't mess with it

If the model works, the the PT would have been far more successful. Repeating the past for the sake of doing what we know is not a reason.

In George Lucas' Star Wars, themes recur to different characters, and scenes and plot elements repeat themselves, with variations. This is part of his "artistic vision," if you want to call it that, for the series. Not staying true to that would be a betrayal of that vision. But yeah, Gen-Y likes their preteen entertainment "dark and gritty." It's so unpredictable! And so edgy! And so noncommercial!

Gen Y? LOL.....I'm 37 yo....Dark and gritty connotes much broader terms then their face value.

The PT made about $2.5B at the box office. I am for some reason reminded of the old Yogi Berra quote, "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

Of course things will be changed up for the ST but there needs to be some fun light-hearted moments in the ST. Look at the EU. The NJO was dark and gritty so it worked. But with DNT/LOTF and FOTJ being dark in tone as well it ruined the impact of the NJO. Star Wars to me is light in tone and fun adventure stories. I love the NJO but fun adventure stories are needed. If all 3 movies of the ST were dark, it wouldn't be as effective.

Financial success....obviously there's no discussion.....but critically...and with the fans...a big NO.

Wrong, obviously.

LOLz.......at any rate, my wish for the Sequel Trilogy is to conjure that lighting in a bottle that surrounds the Classic Trilogy uniquely. I'm pretty excited about the screenwriter behind the film....

If I want dark and gritty sci-fi, I'll watch Battlestar Galactica. (Which I actually like, for the most part, but that's another discussion.)

If I want a sci-fi series about hope, I'll watch Star Wars.

This!

Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines "gritty" as follows:

1. containing or resembling grit
2. courageously persistent : plucky <a gritty heroine>
3. having strong qualities of tough uncompromising realism <a gritty novel>
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gritty

I'm assuming we're referring to definition #3. In which case, it's about the last thing Star Wars is about, in the opinion of its creator.

Why can't it have elements of both?

Elements of both what?