I think there was a plan with certain story beats that it had to hit. And like any story, it allowed for changes, improvisation etc. In the original trilogy, there was uncertainty over whether Han Solo would even be in Episode VI because they didn't know if Harrison Ford would sign on for another movie. Han Solo's absence would have radically changed Return of the Jedi, but Lucas and co. could still get to the finish line without him. The story
needs Luke; it
benefits by having Han. If Mark Hamill was in the same contractual position in 1982 and
refused, I don't think they could get to the finish line and it remain the same story.
That said, depending on how Rise of Skywalker plays out, the problem may be that the sequel trilogy filmmakers changed something they couldn't afford to change. George R. R. Martin explains this better than I could:
I’ve been planting all these clues that the butler did it, then you’re halfway through a series and suddenly thousands of people have figured out that the butler did it, and then you say the chambermaid did it? No, you can’t do that.
What did they change? Well, I haven't seen the movie yet. If I had to guess, Palpatine is the chambermaid. Ian McDiarmid is excellent so I'll keep an open mind. However, I'm struggling to imagine a scenario in which Palpatine returning makes any sense.
This is just my speculation, but I feel like the plan was Snoke = Darth Plagueis, everyone figured it out
immediately, and instead of leaning into it, they panicked, called up McDiarmid, and walked back on Rey being a nobody so they can (weakly) justify Palpatine falling thousands of feet, bursting into a pillar of energy, and surviving the Death Star II exploding all up in his grill because Rey is his granddaughter or some other such nonsense.
I liked The Last Jedi. I thought it set up a fairly clear path for Episode IX. Here's what I took from The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi/my fan fiction version of Rise of Skywalker:
- Snoke = Darth Plagueis because he can resurrect himself through sheer knowledge and power in the Force. He's no longer a Sith because **** those guys. His Sith apprentice killed him and let an empire die.
- Darth Plagueis created Anakin Skywalker through sheer knowledge of the Force for no other reason than because he could. Imagine being so powerful you can just create life (without boning) and still want more power.
- Snoke is destroyed once and for all by the last of the Skywalker bloodline (Ben Solo), meaning Snoke's lust for power is ultimately his undoing.
- Kylo Ren never turns back to the Light Side. They did that redemption arc already with Darth Vader. No need to retread ground. Kylo Ren should die because his anger, selfishness, and inability to compromise or see reason leads him down a path beyond redemption. Also, the Skywalker bloodline should end because it fucked a lot of things up in a galaxy far, far away for like 50 years. So many people died...
- Rey is a nobody because it's okay to be a nobody and build yourself up into a legend. If she wants to take up the Skywalker mantle and call herself Rey Skywalker at the very end because it inspires hope in others, I still think that fits narratively and thematically. The bloodline should end, but the name still means something.
- Luke was The Last Jedi, maybe Leia if Carrie Fisher didn't pass away. Rey aligns with the Light Side of the Force but rejects the teachings of the Jedi because Luke is right: "At the height of their powers, they allowed Darth Sidious to rise, create the Empire, and wipe them out." In fact, Luke's Jedi Order failed miserably too so that's twice the Jedi allowed a super power to **** things up.
The way I saw it, these trilogies would ultimately tell the story of the end of both the Sith AND Jedi, the rise and fall of the Skywalker bloodline, and why the Skywalker name lives on and
why it's important that it does. To me anyway, a lot of these things seemed perfectly set up then the filmmakers decided, "How about Palpatine?"