The future of Star Wars on the big screen continues to change, and in 2023, Lucasfilm shares stories that will continue to take place all over the timeline. The Mandalorian & Gorgu will continue the New Republic era storyline and Dawn of the Jedi will take things further back than ever before. However, an even bigger focus for Lucasfilm appears to be on the distant future after the events of the Skywalker Saga. The Rey film will take place 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker, and others, like the untitled Shawn Levy film and the Simon Kinberg trilogy, could also flesh out the period.

Exploring the time after the sequel trilogy makes sense since it allows far more creative freedom than telling a story in between eras. That means it opens up a ton of possibilities for the types of villains Rey could face in the galaxy's new state. Moreover, other sequel trilogy heroes like Finn and Poe Dameron will likely return since so many stars of the franchise have also made comebacks years later. Repeating history is something that happens just as much behind the scenes on Star Wars as it does within its storytelling.

There were plenty of criticisms to come out of the sequel trilogy, from the heavy reliance on nostalgia to the handling of certain characters. However, one major bright spot of the sequels, for the most part, was Kylo Ren. Before The Force Awakens, Star Wars was already full of other menacing villains and Kylo Ren earned his spot among them. A huge reason why is because of Adam Driver's performance, who brought so much emotion to the role. As Lucasfilm looks at characters they want to continue with, it makes perfect sense to look at Kylo Ren because he was so well-received.

“I had an overall arc in mind that he wanted to do, which then changed. His idea was almost the opposite journey of Vader, where Vader starts the most confident, the most committed to the Dark Side, and by the last movie he's the most vulnerable, and weak, and he wanted to start at the opposite, where this character was the most confused and vulnerable, and by the end of the three movies would be most committed to the Dark Side." -- Adam Driver on the original plan for Kylo Ren's sequel trilogy arc.

The decision to both redeem and then kill a dark side character is one that's been repeated many times in Star Wars. Lucasfilm had the opportunity to do something different with Kylo Ren. After The Last Jedi, it seemed there was no turning back from the dark side for Ben Solo, yet it still happened in the end as the story switched back to director J.J. Abrams. By bringing Kylo Ren back, Lucasfilm can not only continue with its best sequel trilogy character, but it can also fix a major sequel trilogy mistake.

• The Kylo Ren actor has become one of the top leading men in Hollywood but no longer has ties to a major franchise.

Driver was a rising star before being cast as Kylo Ren in the sequel trilogy and climbed the ranks of Hollywood as he became more well-known. The actor would go on to team up with respected filmmakers like Spike Lee, Ridley Scott, Michael Mann, Francis Ford Coppola, and others. Driver has become a very in-demand actor with two Oscar nominations to his name, but none of his films outside of Star Wars have been able to match the sequel trilogy's success. A rumor for a long time was that Marvel Studios was looking at Driver for the role of Mr. Fantastic in The Fantastic Four: First Steps reboot, but the role would go to The Mandalorian star Pedo Pascal.

Many actors star in both smaller films and blockbusters, and Driver was one of them as the sequel trilogy was ongoing. Now, Driver is no longer part of a major franchise that keeps him as relevant as possible for wider audiences. While Driver has said his time with Star Wars is over, many actors who were part of the franchise in the past, like Harrison Ford, have said the same thing before returning years later.

Kylo Ren might've died at the end of The Rise of Skywalker, but Lucasfilm has brought back characters from the dead before. While returns like Emperor Palpatine and Boba Fett failed, Darth Maul's resurrection proved it could still work really well. After only appearing in The Phantom Menace, George Lucas eventually decided to bring Maul back for The Clone Wars series. While the animated series needed to get creative on how he could return, the result turned him into the top-tier Star Wars villain he was always meant to be.

Bringing back characters all the time can harm a franchise since it lowers the stakes, but if it's handled well, then it's easy to forget how it came about. Lucasfilm has shown it's willing to bring characters back as long as there's a story worth telling.. In some ways, it could also mirror what Maul went through after he returned in The Clone Wars since he was no longer Darth Sidious' apprentice. If Lucasfilm is looking for past characters to bring back, it's hard not to instantly think of Kylo Ren as the best option.

The Star Wars franchise has always been fluid, not just with planned projects, but with what happens within the narrative as well. As Lucasfilm looks to usher in a new era of Star Wars films, it's clear it wants to continue with the major characters introduced in the sequel trilogy. Rey might've been the main character, yet Kylo Ren was just as pivotal to the story. Even though he died in The Rise of Skywalker, it wouldn't be a surprise to see his character make a return shortly. Additionally, Kylo Ren continues to be part of the franchise today, with the upcoming comic book series, The Legacy of Vader, one way Lucasfilm keeps the character alive.

Exploring Kylo Ren after The Rise of Skywalker would be an interesting new direction for the franchise and , with Ahsoka recently featuring the World Between Worlds and taking the concept to live-action. Future Star Wars projects will need some hook to interest fans and bringing back Kylo Ren in some capacity would be an easy way to do this. The Star Wars canon might be vast and interconnected, yet Lucasfilm has shown before that it won't limit filmmakers from aiming to tell the best story possible. With so much potential still, a Kylo Ren return feels inevitable.