Opinion: 2023, the year I stopped caring about "Star Wars"

A long time ago in the Milky Way Galaxy... I used to care about "Star Wars." But that was over ten years ago, and times have changed. It is also why I typically no longer look at the franchise as an “awesome thing to keep me entertained.”

At one point, there were only six movies and a 3D animated "Clone Wars" series from George Lucas (though there was the expanded universe lore as well). As a child, that was no longer good enough. I wanted more. With Disney purchasing Lucasfilm in 2012, I got my wish. Consequences would follow, of course.

"The Force Awakens" was released in 2015, and to this day, it is the most hyped I've ever been for a movie. So much so that I'm even surprised my parents took me on opening day with the number of times I bugged them about it.

At the time I was satisfied with where the franchise was going, although I only look back on that specific movie as the less dumb sequel movie. "The Force Awakens" could have led to greater things but now it is obvious to the fact that Disney had no overarching plan (at least not one that was good). But there was more!

Not only would we be getting a new trilogy, but we would also have anthological movies released yearly. There was also the okay "Star Wars: Rebels" show on Disney XD which was a follow-up to "The Clone Wars." More "Star Wars," what could go wrong?

The movie releases of "The Last Jedi" and "The Rise of Skywalker" started the beginning of the end of the franchise. I was a bit divided with "The Last Jedi" at the time, unsure of whether the trilogy was going in a good or bad direction. Then there was the abysmal "The Rise of Skywalker."

I wasn’t one of the fans that hoped it would fail. I hoped it would make a decent attempt to make the trilogy better, but it only made things worse.

To this day, "The Rise of Skywalker" is one of the only films where I walked out of the theater angry. It also did not help that the local theater I went to had speakers that sounded like they were going to explode.

Then there was Disney Plus, which turned into another false hope (mostly). "The Mandalorian," at the time, was some of the best "Star Wars" content that Disney made. I was caught off guard by this, but I was fortunate that we had something half-decent.

Also ironically, 2020 (as horrible of a year as it was) turned out to be a fine year for "Star Wars." 2020 saw the release of the final season of "The Clone Wars" (the best thing Disney did with the franchise) and season two of "The Mandalorian." Overall, not that bad, but that did not fully heal the wound.

Of course, because something happens to be successful, that means Disney will bite on more than it can chew by releasing even more content. At the near end of 2020, Kathleen Kennedy announced a handful of new "Star Wars" shows for Disney Plus, including "The Bad Batch," "Ahsoka," "Obi-Wan Kenobi," "Rangers of the New Republic," "Skeleton Crew," "Andor," "Lando," "Tales of the Jedi," "A Droid Story" (fate undetermined), "The Acolyte," etc. Already sound like too much? I pondered the same thing then.

Not only that but "The Mandalorian" would no longer be standalone and would lay the groundwork for a wider "Mando-verse," encompassing "The Book of Boba Fett," "Ahsoka," "Skeleton Crew," and the dismissed "Rangers of the New Republic." In other words, "The Mandalorian" also became less special as a result.

Amidst all of this, announcing new "Star Wars" movies became a horrific tease, announcing projects like "Rogue Squadron," a standalone Rey movie, or a Kevin Feige production before dismissing them from production. It is also where it becomes harder to care for new announcements.

The past few years continued to see diminishing returns for the franchise, due to an overreliance on the streaming platform combined with poor creative choices.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi" was the worst thing since the Sequel Trilogy, "The Book of Boba Fett" and "Ahsoka" both had character assassinations of their own, and nobody cared a whole lot about animated entries such as "Tales of the Jedi" and "The Bad Batch."

At least "Andor" had some good acting, good production value, and writing worth observing. Season three of "The Mandalorian" also killed the series for me, being an extremely poor addition to what used to be a good show.

I can say at this point that the only thing I really would want at this point is season two of "Andor" and that’s it. I do not care enough about where the "Mando-verse" is going, the animated shows simply became ‘lore filler,’ and none of them right the wrongs of Disney’s troubled past.

Disney has produced decent things like "Rogue One," "Solo," "Andor," "The Clone Wars" season seven and the first two seasons of "The Mandalorian," and has pleased fans with some video games. But all of these do not correct past mistakes nor do all of them stand up to George Lucas’ past creations. Just give me "Andor" season two and I'll be good for a while.

Perhaps it's soon time to close the book on a franchise I have been with for a dozen years. Perhaps all of us should. There are only so many times one can go back to the well to collect water until eventually there will be nothing left at all. Even dirty water cannot suffice.

So instead, the best way to reflect on "Star Wars" is to look at what was, “before the dark times, before the Disney purchase.” I used to watch the original six movies wanting way more, but now I think those are the installments I genuinely want. Sometimes, less is more.

Logan M. Sharp is a fourth-year majoring in film production. To contact him, please email lxs5590@psu.ed.