It seems like one way to bring TLJ into greater alignment with the two JJ Abrams installments would be to downplay the strength and dominance of the First Order.
TFA appears to establish the First Order as an Imperial remnant that has coalesced in part thanks to Snoke, and are not strong or prevalent enough to pose a threat obvious enough for the Senate to take actions. Instead, Leia has to take matters into her own hands. When Poe is taken aboard a star destroyer, he marvels as though he had not realized the First Order had such resources. They manage to build a doomsday device, which they are able to use to essentially blow up the New Republic capitol. It really seems like at the end of the movie the two major superpowers cut the head off the other, leaving a power vacuum.
TLJ charges out of the gate to suggest that the entire Republic was reduced to very little by the single act of destroying their capitol and fleet. The First Order, however, seems barely hurt at all, with legions to easily and quickly seize control of the galaxy. With ample huge ships and destroyers to spare to chase the meager Resistance. They seem to have plenty of resources and are elevated to Empire status, with the Resistance slipping into the role of “rebels” now.
TROS presents us with Kylo Ren as an erratic Supreme Leader who is compelled by the Final Order fleet presented by Palpatine, feeling that acquiring this resource would finally elevate them to the level of “a true empire.” The First Order appears to have a presence throughout the galaxy, with destroyers in place, though apparently spread thin in the effort.
Where is the New Republic post-TFA? Totally gone? Incapacitated but ready to reform? Surely post-TROS we won’t hear about a “New New Republic,” but reforming it with the same name.
So, here’s what I would like to imply about the First Order and Republic throughout the trilogy, most of which puts pressure on TLJ more than the other two:
The New Republic formed as one might expect and recall from the Legends continuity, following the overthrow of the Empire. The primary remnant of the Empire never died out, but coalesced in secret before starting to present themselves as the First Order. Snoke is evidently known to the galaxy at large, though not taken as a serious threat. The Republic government does not wish to get involved in fighting the First Order, despite Leia insisting that this must be done. The Republic pools their resources around their capitol planet, though these forces don’t affiliate with her ragtag Resistance group.
Throughout the events of TFA, including its revised opening crawl, the First Order presents its previously unrevealed might by destroying the Republic capitol. However, in the process their own military capitol is also destroyed. The film ends with an apparent vacuum of power or control, with both forces having suffered large losses.
When we go into TLJ, I’d like to imply or state that the loss of the Republic fleet has allowed the First Order the opportunity to strike into central or important systems to try to seize control. However, this is done through ruthless strikes rather than unleashing limitless resources to wear down any resistance. (They are lacking in resources as well!) However, they feel it is important to snuff out the organized Resistance that destroyed Starkiller Base, and perhaps prioritize this by sending most or all of their forces to do so. (Kylo says, “Get all our forces down to that Resistance base.” And Rey says that “the First Order will control all the major systems within weeks” but have not seized them already.) As the film concludes, the Resistance barely manages to escape, and the First Order continues their strikes against an undefended Republic.
Even though the plot of TROS throws a monkey wrench into this development no matter how you slice it and it’s tempting to just pretend it didn’t happen, we have to make it make sense. So, entering TROS we see that Kylo feels somewhat insecure in his rule and that the First Order is ruthlessly attacking planets that support the Resistance. Their rule is fledging, and has not set into a truly Imperial sense of rule. Disorder and chaos have erupted as citizens rebel, though not in an organized way. When the Empire took over, it was a turnover of an existing Republic structure. The First Order is an invading force that has had a rough time foisting itself on the populace. When Palpatine emerges with an “oh by the way here’s an enormous fleet” the First Order is in a position to gladly accept it. Dialogue paints them as in need of help, not yet having become “a true empire.” And by the time the galaxy learns Palpatine himself returned somehow, they amass to knock this bastard out for good, torching the First Order’s thinly-spread forces and presumably leaving room for the (New) Republic to recover and reestablish itself.
Soooo… what can be done to TLJ to help facilitate this narrative?
Well, the opening crawl is a great place to do some of this. I would imagine spelling out to a greater extent that it is only the lack of the Republic flee that allows the First Order to make calculated strikes to seize control of major systems. They aren’t the new Empire all of a sudden, though post a large threat.
Ideally, and this probably isn’t really all that possible, they wouldn’t suddenly call themselves rebels. (Not a huge deal.)
Make their forces smaller, or else imply that this is basically all of it. Snoke’s ship is comically large, I feel. If it appeared on its own in space shots, and not in the famous Holdo maneuver sequence, I’d suggest replacing it with a regular destroyer or something.
Any other ideas for realizing this vision? Perhaps it’s mostly just through a slight tweak to TLJ’s crawl.
