TFA is very intentionally planned. But not to be an interesting story, like most people here want now, but to be as Star Wars as possible. People today dislike it for that, but it was the smartest choice. The PT was hated at that point for being “not Star Wars” so they made the most Star Wars thing imaginable. Rebels vs Empire again, Han as smuggler again, superweapon finale again. Instead of exposition dumping the last 30 years they jumped to the action and JJ mystery-boxed the past. And you know what? It worked, at the time.

Once they had successfully roped people in they do what ESB did and subvert expectations. Whether they succeeded or failed is up to you. But it was thought out.

By TROS many people disliked TLJ and instead of sticking to their guns Disney was worried of alienating more people, so they went back to pleasing as many people as possible. Only this time it didn’t work. TROS was rushed with reshoots so it never had the possibility of being well thought out, and this was what we got.