I’m wary of the title, frustrated with the implications of various meanings and the likely marketing strategy behind it, like it in isolation, and find it unwise in context, of that makes sense.
“The Rise of Skywalker” works fine as a Star Wars title... for any film featuring an honest to god Skywalker character, and for any film that isn’t trying to be a sequel to TLJ’s plot, messages, and themes. I mean, the one way I’d see the title being a perfect fit is if it actually got retconned that Rey is Luke’s daughter, or Schmi’s descendant, etc., and even then it’s kind of wretched to resurrect the debate about her parentage for a whole ‘nother year when frankly, by now, it should have been resolved.
And since Abrams and others have clearly been getting back to obfuscating about Rey’s parentage again, while at the same time letting Boyega do things like confirm that Finn and Rey isn’t a romance option in this film, it smells an awful lot like a name chosen with a marketing scheme, one possibly based off trying to find some half-measure compromise between fans, which is just a bad idea to me.
Here's my ranking for the various possibilities for the "Skywalker" in the title, based off my own tastes:
Worst Option: Rey marries Kylo
- Hell-to-the-no! To be honest, this option is mostly just poisoned to me by TLJ planting its seeds in disingenuous and just plain bad writing for Rey and Kylo. The original idea of Reylo to me had some merit after TFA if they did a good job writing it going forward, but the central premises of TLJ's take on the relationship was one of faux-depth and real shallowness, one that subsumed Rey to Kylo's story. Going this direction would be a damning condemnation of the Sequel Trilogy's hypocrisy regarding its attempt to be progressive but still having a double standard that favored Kylo as a privileged angsty white guy.
Previously Established Skywalker Character
- As much as I love Anakin, Luke, Leia, etc., this is not their story. The title should refer to the current generation of heroes, not to the heroes of the past... or even to Ben Solo/Organa. Rey needs to be involved in the title's meaning somehow, because this is supposed to be *her* story. I wouldn't necessarily hate this as a reveal, but I would find it extremely disappointing and de-facto proof that Rey should have just been made a Skywalker.
The Jedi Order is renamed the Skywalker Order
- This feels like a weak option to me because of how it definitely puts more emphasis on Luke's legacy than Rey's character arc, and because I don't think TLJ was putting down any foundation for the Skywalker legacy getting any kind of honor; it's goal was more to have the characters viewed on a humble, individual level than a familial one, and it used anti-dynastic connotations to justify Rey being Random. That's simply not a foundation for naming the Jedi after a family with a very uneven legacy upon the Galaxy; still, Rey would be involved with the change in the name, so it would be moderately better.
Rey names herself a metaphorical Skywalker
- This has a stronger focus on Rey than the previous entry, but still suffers from a lack of setup from TLJ. However, as much as I think any surrogate parental relationship depending on off-screen developments with a Force Ghost Luke would seem artificial and unearned to me, there's quite a bit more wiggle-room because of Luke being a Force Ghost. The biggest thing holding this, and other options, back for me is that none seem to address the central issue with Rey and the Skywalker Saga:-B: she's a character suffering all the weaknesses of being a Skywalker (unoriginal storytelling, overpowered skill with the Force, Deus-Ex-Machina-levels of a "special fate") but none of the advantages (established precedent for her power, belonging to the central soap opera of the 9-film story, expansion in the backstory for the films form her very existance, "rhyming" with previous character arcs excusing her similarities to Luke and Anakin.)
Best Option: Rey is a Skywalker
- Have no doubt; this isn't a perfect answer for the films at all, and comes with tremendous consequences as well as benefits as an answer... but to me, the benefits far outweigh the consequences from a storytelling and franchise perspective, even if the artistic integrity and synergy of the Sequel Trilogy is offered up as a sacrifice for it. Rey Skywalker is an exciting, lore-expanding answer that addresses numerous issues her characterization suffered from in TLJ, preventing her from being subsumed by the Skywalker Story because the Skywalker Story is *her* story now, and allows for a more elegant "rhyming" with the previous trilogies and gives us something impossible at the moment: a satisfying happy ending to the Skywalker Saga that isn't a downer compared to Return of the Jedi.[face_dancing]
But the biggest thing impeding it is what it would say about the Sequel Trilogy, LFL's creative process, and the meta-narrative damage it would do to an argument and philosophy LFL has embraced for the last year and a half. Abandoning Rey Random, and all the arguments LFL believed in and endorsed and all the hard work Rian Johnson did to deliver that message? That would be a "mea culpa" on behalf of LFL and a denunciation of Rian Johnson's creative intent. That's not good.
