I agree with Gary Kurtz and others that it was a mistake turning Leia into Luke's sister (she was originally planned to be a whole new character)
it was the start of the downhill slope for the franchise that began with Return of the Jedi, and then continued with the prequels
That's not to say I didn't enjoy them. I just think they could have been so much better if done a little differently.
But that is just my opinion
I agree with this. While I know Lucas was tired of Star Wars and just wanted to wrap it up - I also remember that he talked about letting other filmmakers play in the sandbox. Kind of like we now have with the SW Stories. The merchandising machine was also going full bore, and obviously would've supported more movies in the franchise.
If he just wanted to walk away, George COULD have left it open, with Luke intending to seek out his long-lost sister, trusting in his abilities and the defeat of evil to allow him to sense her. Leia as Luke's sister added nothing at all to the plot of the OT, except for the awkward conversation about their shared mother. Which ended up in the trash heap of discontinuity with the prequels anyway. It's a great sequel hook, but it also could have been left alone if nobody wanted to take up the helm.
In this alternate universe, even if the rest of the movie stories & releases went the same way as they did, and we got TFA in 2015; wouldn't this sequel hook make more sense?
ALERT: ALTERNATE UNIVERSE PLOT IDEA FOR TFA:
Luke has been searching for his sister - a task that seemed so easy long ago. The search consumed him, leaving him distracted from his intent to rebuild and train new jedi. We see echoes of Anakin's attachment & obsession with Luke's endless search, and he ultimately disappears.
The mysterious map that somehow leads to Luke is replaced by information about Luke's sister. Lor San Tekka was tasked by Yoda to take care of the child - to keep her secret unless called upon by the Jedi or Bail Organa, otherwise to take the knowledge to the grave. Eventually, she grew up, had a son, and left Jakku, the Empire was ended and all was well. Then, around the time the First Order comes to light, Luke's sister returns to Lor San Tekka. She tells him that something terrible has happened, she has left something important with an old friend on Jakku and that she must go.
Tekka tracks down his “daughter”’s old friends, eventually learning that she’s entrusted Unkar Plutt with her secret thing. LST respects that and keeps his distance. He also learns where she was headed, and decides that he will unveil this information if needed. The secret, of course, is her daughter “Rey.”
Years pass. Rey remembers little, if anything of her family. Unkar runs a legit scavenging business, keeps the girl fed, busy & resourceful, treating her equally to the others in the town to deflect interest. Somehow (some coincidences are OK) the Falcon ends up in the hands of a local crime lord. The First Order gains power, and rumors reach Lor San Tekka of a young man, strong in the Force and obsessed with Darth Vader, leading a group of knights against Luke’s partially trained students. Tekka presumes this must be his adoptive grandson, aware of the truth of his lineage. He reaches out to the Resistance, feeling it’s time to reveal his information.
The First Order intercepts his message, and Kylo Ren returns home. His first moments on screen are exactly the same, speaking cryptically of family with Tekka. Only later will we learn that he arrives, dressed much like his real Grandfather, only to kill the Grandfather he knew as a child. <feels>
The overall story of TFA remains the same, except that it’s a bigger reveal that Kylo is Luke’s nephew. Here (finally!) is the thread of his lost sister picked back up, and he’s Luke’s enemy?! We’d lose the patricide angle with Han Solo, but he can still be a father-figure to Rey, snuffed out like Obi-Wan.
In sequels, we’d learn that Luke’s sister was sought out by Snoke for her power, but ultimately killed on Ach-To. He settled for her son as his apprentice, using him to hunt down the fledgling New Jedi Order. Maybe Kylo killed her? The moment of her death is when Kylo truly went to the dark side, Rey gave up in her heart of her family’s return & Luke lost hope. Luke finally tracks her down, buries her & despairs. But then Rey comes to him, with his father’s saber, and he instantly knows who she is...
...
Guess I should be working, or something...