I’ve seen a few people say they don’t like The Rise of Skywalker as the title. My friends don’t, and I’ll admit I didn’t like it at first either (I was holding out hope for Balance of the Force)
If we’re talking about holding out hope for a different title, I’m going to have to wait for the movie to prove to me that my suggested title “Legacy of the Skywalkers” isn’t better.
With the 2004 release of ESB adding a line of dialogue to Palpatine and TLJ’s “Death Star tech,” the only film (in their current official presentations) NOT to invoke the Death Star in some way is The Phantom Menace. 😦
Even then, the film features conscious evocation of the Death Star attack with the assault on the droid control ship.
I’ve also been hoping they wouldn’t resort to a greater evil trope that they have to unite in order to take down. To me, Kylo Ren and his followers should be treated as the bad guys, but through the posutive actions of the good guys they are able to find a path to peace with their enemy rather than by just destroying them.
But, there’s so little information that we are doomed to get false expectations or blow things out of proportion until we see the movie. I’m just gonna keep an open mind that they can make the Emperor’s return work and make sense within the story, and maybe it’ll provide some more context with how Snoke fit into this picture. I didn’t see anyone mention how the Emperor’s motif played in TLJ when Snoke threw Rey into the air. Initially I just thought it was a callback but maybe that will carry more importance in retrospect.
At this point, the Emperor might be playing a bigger or smaller role than we are expecting right now. So the best thing is to keep an open mind and imagine how either option could work for you and the story.
Ultimately, though I’m definitely more on the negative side, I am with you as usual. At the end of the day it will all depend on how it plays out.