This is something I constantly go back and forth on. Does the set up in the ST actually work? Or did they fail to execute it properly?
I think the big problem is the imagery. Yes, technology does improve with time, but since the Empire was defeated in ROTJ, it feels strange that one of their remnants has bigger ships than the empire ever created at the height of their power. And the films never explain if the First Order is an official government with multiple systems under their control, or if they randomly raid planets for resources and their bases of operations are capital ships and military outposts. Do they have a capital? A currency?
I think if they were meant to be more like raiders, biding their time and building their army, their resources should’ve been scavenged and upgraded Imperial-era equipment. Something more guerrilla. With the way the First Order actually appears, I think it makes more sense if they were a highly centralized totalitarian state. Like North Korea, where its citizens are poor and mistreated (like the Tico sisters’ home-world) and it devotes most of its resources to the military.
[Even then, though, North Korea’s military technology is not state-of-the art, but the comparison doesn’t have to be 1:1]
But we honestly get no sense that the First Order actually rules anything in TFA, besides Starkiller Base. I think that is the general problem with the First Order. They feel both big and small, and I think they made it that way because they honestly didn’t know what it should be. It feels like they kept it ambiguous in hopes that it could be filled out more in later stories, but that to me is another example of the trilogy’s lack of clear vision.
With the way the First Order is presented, I would say a good route would be to use the opening crawl to establish that the First Order is a small, isolated Imperial remnant. Maybe the last one left. But the remnant and the New Republic are in a frozen conflict. The First Order rules within its own borders, and the New Republic doesn’t want to risk another war so they leave them alone.
But Leia has been motivated to organize a Resistance movement within First Order space. Unaffiliated with the New Republic, but aligned politically. This is basically what we get in the movies, but it isn’t explained that way. We never really get a sense that we’re in First Order territory, or if the First Order actually has any territory. And they probably wanted to keep that ambiguous, because if the FO was a bigger threat, it would make the NR seem foolish for allowing themselves to be so vulnerable. If they are secret, it makes the lack of concern more understandable, but it still makes them seem somewhat foolish since Leia recognized the threat and they didn’t. Also, having them rebuild in secret raises questions about how they were able to upgrade their military force without the NR catching wind of such a thing.
If the First Order have their own functioning nation, then them building new stuff isn’t that hard to explain. But maybe you could somehow imply that they do recycle Imperial tech. Maybe you could have Poe call Snoke’s ship “Palpatine’s Ship” or “the Emperor’s ship” in TLJ. The implication being that maybe his ship is actually the Eclipse, Palpatine’s old flagship. Now we’re not left thinking that the First Order built a larger Star Destroyer than the Galactic Empire ever did. There’s really no way to imply this in the films, but perhaps one could somehow imply that the new Star Destroyers are just stripped down/upgraded Imperial Star Destroyers, rather than brand new ones.
This is definitely a more radical idea, but…
I think it would be interesting to see a version of TFA where the New Republic is never destroyed. Instead, Starkiller Base is just a base (not a bigger, badder, Death Star) and the climax is focused on getting the other half of the map to Luke, and rescuing Rey.
You could take this idea further and have the New Republic never be destroyed in the trilogy. In TLJ, the New Republic can’t intervene because the resistance launched an unprovoked attack on the First Order in their own territory, so they have no jurisdiction. You could even have the New Republic send a transmission to the Resistance on Crait saying they can’t help.
Then, in TROS, you could have the fleet that shows up at the end be the New Republic, who finally can take action now that the First Order is on the verge of launching an attack to take over the galaxy. Obviously there are some cool things with the fleet being just “people”, and I’m not saying one is better than the other. I can just understand what people mean when it feels like they tore down the legacy of Luke, Han and Leia in order to just tell the same story over again. This way, Leia in TFA isn’t starting back where she was in ANH. The fruits of their labor, the New Republic, still exist. But she is just trying to finish what she started by liberating the last corner of the galaxy still ruled by the Empire.
You could potentially do something similar with Han. Again, obviously there are thematic reasons for why Han is back to smuggling in TFA, but I also can understand people who feel like this direction for the character was forced just to have Han be a smuggler again. It might be a stretch, but you could potentially have Han still serving as a general in the New Republic. Perhaps his hauler ship in TFA could be changed to be a New Republic ship. You could also change 3PO’s lines when they reunite, and he can call him “General Solo” and make some reference to the New Republic.
Making new lines for 3PO in general could be pretty useful for this idea.
As far as Luke and his legacy goes, that’s a good story for another time.
Anyway, a bunch of random ideas. Regardless of how radical you went, I think that layout for the crawl I mentioned earlier would make the most sense. Sure, you still end up with the same Rebels vs Empire scenario, but now it isn’t at the cost of resetting the galaxy back to ANH.