Tying into the idea of clarifying the actual war that is going on in the ST, I thought of an idea that would require some effects but could clarify the First Order’s scale and strategy.
During the Starkiller Base establishing shot before Hux’s speech, it would be interesting to add in the First Order’s invasion fleet to its orbit (I’m picturing just a distant armada of Star Destroyers above the planet). After Hux completes his speech, we cut back to that establishing shot and see this fleet jump to hyperspace.
Later in the film after Hosnian Prime is destroyed, we could have a montage of establishing shots of notable planets where we see one or multiple Destroyers arriving at each world. You wouldn’t have to necessarily depict any battles, but this could visualize the idea that the First Order basically blitzkriegs major systems as it simultaneously destroys the Senate. If it disrupted the flow of TFA’s climax, this montage could potentially be included at the beginning of TLJ instead.
I love the idea. It would honestly fix the TLJ Crawl with, “The First Order reigns!”