I enjoyed The Force Awakens, but it didn't give me what I wanted, the New Republic vs the Imperial Remnant or some other threat. Large space/land battles were also lacking, which is 1 of the reasons I enjoy and defend Episode III. I can't stand the Last Jedi, and I'm bothered/distressed that I don't enjoy the new films, being the Star Wars fan I am. That being said, this is not against those people who enjoy the Sequel Trilogy, these are just my ideas for more of the Star Wars I like.

Star Wars Episode 7: Knightfall

Setting: 6 years after the Battle of Endor, an uneasy peace between the Imperial Remnant and the New Republic is threatened by numerous factors. There are people on both sides that resent the cessation of hostilities, but war weariness is high for both Government's civilians. The Imperial Remnant controls roughly a third of the galaxy, while the New Republic largely controls the rest. Some systems have remained neutral like Hutt Space, or Mandalore which has shown renewed militant activity.

The Jedi led by Luke Skywalker, have built a new temple in neutral space, serve as political intermediaries between the Imperial Remnant and New Republic. Much to the irritation of political hardliners Luke has recruited Force sensitives from civilians of both nations. These new Jedi are roughly a 50/50 split of Imperial and Republic ancestry, but animosity between the groups is mostly nonexistent thanks to Luke's teachings.

The Imperial Remnant has become more politically moderate under the leadership of Grand Admiral Thrawn, and his right hand man Gilad Pellaeon (played by Idris Elba in my head).

The Imperial Navy has undergone a massive retrofitting of its fleet, with Imperial-class having the KDY bridge tower removed in favor of a shorter more protected bridge not unlike the it's New Republic rival Nebula-class Star Destroyer. Some point defense laser cannons have been added around the new bridge for further protection, and the octuple barbette turbolaser batteries have been adjusted so all turrets to shoot forward. This retrofitted ship is now called the Challenger-class Star Destroyer (appropriate I think since the retrofits were meant to compete with the Nebula-class and the newest Mon Cal cruisers). Imperial Starfighter Doctrine has returned to the belief of quality over quantity, and has revisited some Clone Wars designs. The main Imperial interceptor is considered a successor of the Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptor for example.

In contrast to the Imperial Remnant's retrofits, the New Republic has state of the art ships and starfighters, and most old vessels have been retired. This is all possible because of the fact the NR possess the shipyards of Fondor, Kuat, Mon Calamari, and more, while the Imperial Remnant had to rebuild infrastructure from scratch.

The Villains: A New Republic Admiral of Alderaanian ancestry (played by Woody Harrelson in my head) is determined to seek justice for his homeworld, which in his head equals every Imperial dead. Determined to restart the war with the Imperial Remnant, he inevitably comes into conflict with the Jedi.

This is what I got so far, the goal being to make the Imperial Remnant more "grey" and the New Republic a bit "darker", like in Rogue One. Good and bad characters on both sides. I plan to expand these ideas and receive your guy's input. One incomplete thought I have is a Mandalorian assault on the New Jedi Temple on the Alderaanian Admiral's orders, since he could not publicly be seen moving against the Jedi.

Some interesting ideas there, PM.

I enjoyed both VII and VIII....but to me they pale in comparison to Rogue One.

The thing that irked me about the First Order is that there is no sense of evolution. Not quite like what we got when we saw the prequels and their precursors to the Imperial Star Destroyer and such. The First Order just seems to come from out of nowhere, even though VII's opening crawl says they rose from the ashes of the Empire. Somehow, after the defeat and routing of the Empire, this new faction managed to make seemingly bigger, badder capital ships.

As characterizations go, the First Order seems almost comical compared to the Galactic Empire.

Like you, I would've preferred an Imperial Remnant of some type...still using the classic ships, but finding themselves at a sort of stalemate with the New Republic, who, with the support of new allies have been developing better ships and tech to deal with the Remnant. The Remnant could resort to sort of piracy (preying on smaller ships to cannibalize) to maintain (and slowly) upgrade their forces, as well as impress citizens and refugees into their service. Heck, they could actually resurrect/recommission some older Victory class star destroyers to bolster their scattered ISD forces. Might even recover a nearly finished Super Star Destroyer from a hidden Imperial shipyard.

Of course, I'm just blue-skyin' here. I haven't read many of the Wars novels....either Legends or new canon....so I'm not up to snuff on the state of such things.