As I pointed out in another topic, JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson worked together on these two movies. JJ made the movie he wanted and Rian took JJ’s first story and made the second story of the trilogy. JJ was a producer on that film. They also discussed the two stories and JJ made changes in TFA in light of where Rian wanted to take the story. TLJ does not undermine a single thing in TFA. JJ was never supposed to come back for IX so he was never going to write the payoff for the things he setup until way after TLJ was done. And JJ comes from a TV background so he has experience with setting things up for others and continuing on from what others do. What I expect from IX is a continuation of the story that fits with TFA and TLJ. If they both were working from a master story arc, I predict that what JJ does for IX will make everything fit together and make sense.

Personally, Snoke’s death is one of the high points of the film for me. I could see it coming as Snoke was talking and they showed Kylo’s left hand while his right hand seemingly did what Snoke was expecting. Brilliant piece of cinema. Having Snoke carry on to IX would make this too much like the OT. I’m hoping that IX turns out to be JJ’s best film and that it has a solid ending. That hope rests on them working off of some sort of story plan based on Lucas’s treatments. If JJ is left to his own devices, I don’t have high hopes for IX.