Screw it, let’s get the conversation started, around what the core of the story should be both in theme and emotional arcs. It seems like the most coherent theme of the trilogy, that we have the most material to play with, is legacy and how much it shapes us.

Kylo’s relationship to the theme of legacy defines his emotional arc - he’s inherited a dark legacy which he struggles with and ultimately rejects.

Rey’s relationship to legacy gives us two options:
(1) She’s looking for a legacy, finds one (she’s a Palpatine), and rejects it. This is similar to Kylo’s, so far less interesting I think.
(2) She’s looking for a legacy, finds she doesn’t have one, and creates her own (with a hint of Skywalker). This I think is the far stronger option.

I think one of the biggest other issues of TROS is that force powers are something you can level up in. Palpatine can now lightning fleets - that has to go. Healing force power is something Anakin turned to the Sith for but still didn’t get - having Rey be a healer cheapens that. So does Kylo’s ability to return her from the dead(?)

I think this is cohering into a sensible approach for me - if we drop Luke dying at the end of TLJ, and we also drop Leia dying so that Rey can kill Kylo (which she heals to undo anyway), then we can have them both contribute their lives to Rey’s victory over Palpatine at the end, at the point where she ignites both lightsabers. That way we replace the silly “I am all Sith”/“I am all Jedi”, and Rey just being born with Palpatine power levels, with the heroic sacrifice of two legacy heroes to ensure Rey has what she needs to win.