I think one reason people aren’t so keen on the sequels is because of how much potential the sequels squandered

When it comes to rage over the sequels, this is exactly it.

There was so much they could have done with the little bits that they did give us, but then they went nowhere with any of it…mainly because they never decided on a cohesive outline for the overall story. It’s like a tale of piss-poor project management; no one is at the helm and everyone on the ship is too busy doing their own thing to notice that the ship is sinking.

I think what also gave the sequels a bitter taste was how criticisms were handled within social media, both by Disney and the fanbase. If you didn’t like TFA, “well you just hate that the lead is a lady!” If you didn’t like TLJ, “well you’re just too simple to appreciate Johnson’s brilliance!” If you didn’t like TRoS, “well here are 15 tweets and a Fortnite message that explain the movie better, and you only hate it because you never realized that Star Wars was always a small world!” Instead of taking note about the criticisms of TFA and ensuring that the subsequent films were stronger and cohesive, Disney ignored everything and let it flounder.

There was so much that could have been done and yet, it was all just left to rot. And now, all Disney have are the shows to keep the IP alive altogether.