I mean TLJ did bring some new motives to the franchise. These are the ones I can think of:
- Riding on space horses.
- BB-8 piloting an AT-ST.
- Phone pranks.
- Carrie Fisher flying through space.
- Poe starting an outright mutiny.
- A casino with space-jazz music.
- Force literature.
- Milking a dinosaur.
All very bold and creative choices. Also glad they did that “infiltrating an imperial base under a disguise” thing. Haven’t seen that one in like a year.