But I think George Lucas wanted to sell toys, and thus needed Storm Troopers and the Empire in the old trilogy.
Seriously, anyone who only complains about Disney marketing apparently is too young to remember the OT marketing.
I’m not talking about marketing that comes naturally out of a movie. But I do think they put the New Order and new Storm Troopers into the story to sell toys vs. it being needed or wanted in the progression of the story past ROTJ.
I mean look at the clone troopers in AOTC. That was there to serve the story i.e. Luke in ANH talking about Obi-Wan fighting in the Clone Wars.
LOL (and I never use LOL). Do you really think the Phase II clone troopers, different color armor paint, and different clone trooper classes in ROTS had nothing to do with marketing and selling toys? That all that was there to “serve the story?”
It can be both. But the Clone Troopers served the story first. There was a Clone Wars that happened before Obi-Wan and Anakin fought on the volcano. Plus it helps to establish the Storm Troopers in OT even though I know a lot of them by then weren’t clones anymore.
From reading things years ago. It seems like in the 80’s and 90’s a lot of people were theorizing what was the Clone Wars and the talk of the fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin on the side of a volcano. So those things being in the prequels served the story. Though I’m sure they loved selling clone trooper toys too.