But…wouldn’t a better idea for the ST been about following Luke’s attempts to rebuild the order? So, like a lot of others have said, the conception was flawed from the start.

Or was it? I remember reading that the original writer for TFA (Arndt) said he struggled to produce a script because Luke always dominated the scenes whenever he was in it. So there was a last minute script done by Abrams and Kasdan that essentially was a soft reboot.

I’ve said this before, but Luke in the sequels really should have been a wise, Dumbledore-like figure presiding over his Jedi academy. He could be mostly a minor character, only stepping into the action when the situation becomes especially serious.

And of course, the profit potential for Disney from having a New Jedi Academy was a massive missed opportunity. They could have made a whole kids’ theme park experience around that. Kids could have gotten to be Luke’s students at the Temple and have the whole padawan experience. From both a creative perspective, and from a self-serving, profit-seeking corporate perspective, giving Luke an at least semi-functional New Jedi Order just makes sense.