Not really a serious idea (Yet!), I was kicking around the concept that the First Order is actually as old as the Empire itself:

Episode VII
The First Order

The Galactic Empire lives.
Formed in secret as the first
act of Emperor Palpatine,
Generations of his loyal
servants have been building
a weapon that can destroy
entire stars.

Believing this First Order
is merely a weak imitator,
the New Republic is blind
to this deadly threat. Only
General Leia Organa mobilizes
a covert Resistance in response.

Desperate for allies, Leia
has sent her most trusted pilot
on a mission to discover the
whereabouts of her brother,
the last of the Jedi Knights,
and who has mysteriously
vanished without a trace…