There’s no such thing as happily ever after. Life goes on. New challenges arise. You don’t win once and never have to fight again. Just because WW2 came a little over 20 years after WW1 doesn’t mean all those that fought were losers.
I got to see beloved characters again and were introduced to great new characters too. The First Order is not like the Empire. They do not rule the galaxy. They are more like a terrorist organization that formed from the remains of an overthrown government.
In theory yes, in practise it’s more of the same. TLJ starts with the phrase “The First Order reigns”, and we are subsequently told they will control all major systems in weeks. There’s nothing in TLJ that suggests we’re dealing with a terrorist organisation, whilst everything suggests they are an oppressive force in firm control forcing the last remaining good guys to flee from their base, and ending up reducing them to the size of a football team.
It’s rebels, stormtroopers, X-Wings, Tie-fighters, Death Stars, At-At’s, and throne rooms with an evil Emperor all over again. To me those are not new challenges. They are a variation on what came before. It’s the same cross-roads, where we sometimes make a left in stead of a right, or in many cases feign a left only to go right again in the end.