LEGO Star Wars has recreated the Disney era of Star Wars by largely focusing on TV shows rather than the sequel trilogy, but here's why that should change.
The retired 40658 Millennium Falcon Holiday Diorama, released last year, was the last set to feature characters from the Star Wars sequel trilogy and, prior to that, it had been a few years since we'd seen any sets based on the original trilogy. 2020 saw a handful of prequel sets, including 75284 Knights of Ren Transport Ship, 75278 D-O, and 30386 Poe Dameron's X-wing Fighter but, generally speaking, it's been chronically underserved – especially in recent years – considering the sequels make up a third of the central timeline of movies in the franchise.
Who is Star Wars truly for?
While the sequel trilogy certainly drew criticism at the time of its release, that's hardly something new for Star Wars. The prequels also got dragged through the mud by fans upon their release but have now earned iconic status among long-term fans. Young audiences responded well to the sequels and, need we be reminded once again, that's really who Star Wars has always been for. George Lucas himself has said time and again that Star Wars is first and foremost for children and the sequels offered something truly special for young fans: Rey.
While Star Wars has had no shortage of strong female characters for years – Leia, Padme, and Ahsoka are just a few who have paved the way – the sequels centred a woman as the main character in the form of Rey. This gave young girls the chance to see themselves in the story, to see a version of themselves learn the ways of the Jedi and play the central role in saving the galaxy, where Luke, Obi-Wan, and Anakin had gone before in previous movies.
Looking at the future of Star Wars, Rey's time is not over, with another movie centred on Daisy Ridley's character planned down the line. The sequel characters are therefore far from irrelevant – and therefore deserve consistent spots in the LEGO Star Wars theme too.
Plenty of potential left untapped
It's not like there aren't still areas for the LEGO Star Wars team to explore. Say what you will about the sequels but they delivered on taking us to some dramatic locations that have not yet been given the LEGO treatment.
Even a small playset based on Exegol has incredible potential for the minifigures along, between Rey, Kylo, the Knights of Ren, Palpatine, and the creepy Sith cultists. The very fact that we've never had a Zombie Palpatine minifigure is evidence enough that we've been cheated.
What's more, we never got any sets based on Canto Bight from Episode VIII either, a planet that gave us fantastical creatures, opulent buildings, and some unique ships like its Star Yachts. From a pure curiosity standpoint, seeing how the LEGO Star Wars designers would approach recreating fan-favourite Babu Frik also makes me want a return to Kijimi.
Kylo Ren also boasted a pretty iconic helmet that never made it into the semi-dormant LEGO Star Wars helmet collection but absolutely deserves a spot there. Honestly, I could go on but the truth is that the smattering of LEGO Star Wars sequel sets has barely scratched the surface for what's possible.
A realistic prediction
With the sequel's poor reception among adult fans, it unfortunately doesn't seem likely that we'll see sets based on the modern trilogy anytime soon. Sales are naturally determined by those with buying power and that tends to be older builders rather than the younger. However, we predict that there will be a resurgence, much like we're seeing as the moment for prequel sets.
It helps that there are a fair few anniversaries of the prequel movies, with twenty years since Attack of the Clones in 2022 and twenty years since Revenge of the Sith in 2025 but there's no denying that the prequels are regaining their popularity in recent years, both within LEGO Star Wars and in mainstream Star Wars culture. When Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor appeared on stage together at Star Wars Celebration, they got a deafening response from the crowd, a stark contrast to how fans responded to Christensen when the prequels first came out twenty-odd years ago.
Ahmed Best has had a similar re-welcome to the Star Wars community, returning to play Jedi Master Kelleran Beq in The Mandalorian after getting real-life hate for playing Jar Jar Binks in the prequels.
The fact is that the children who the prequels were made for have now grown up and are ready to shout their love for the movies from their childhoods from the rooftops – and the same will surely happen for the sequels. Next year will be ten years since The Force Awakens released, so those who were young kids when that movie came out are now teenagers and even young adults.
Those people will surely have the same love for the sequels as people who watched the originals and the prequels when they were kids. They deserve sets based on the movies they fell in love with as kids and we're sure that the LEGO Group will (eventually) provide.
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