I'd just begin from scratch really. I tried to come up what would I keep from the existing sequel and I think that's maybe just the yin-yang necklaces. Which were a deleted idea from the first movie anyway.
Easy and lazy answer would be to go with whatever idea they had in Mulan 2's deleted scene, battle sequence, (check it out, it's super cool). It's like spy-ninja-duo of Mulan and Shang working like a badass couple. Mulan 2 concept arts (part 1, part 2) are not too bad either, and although they definitely have some usual Disney sequel cliches(eg. having the girl Mushu dragon), I'd still think I could enjoy it a bit more than what they ended up with.
Then there's Barry Cook's draft, aka the co-director of the original movie wrote synopsis for the potential sequel when he heard that Disney was considering of doing sequel to Mulan. In fact there was going to be Mulan 3 as well, apparently Mulan 2 ruined it as it was too badly received. There's hardly anything known of Barry Cook's draft details, just that soon-to-be-married Mulan and Shang are sent to north since things are happening there, and at the end there would have been an epic battle between Mulan's ancestors and Shan Yu's deceased army.
Actually I lied earlier what would be easiest and laziest. That would be just doing the visual novel The Palace of Secrets. Seriously I wouldn't change a thing.
There's many directions where one could go with the sequel really, some fanfics have done pretty amazing job exploring different options. I have made a post where I put up some fanfic recommendations, but some are like one-shots so they could hardly be sequels.
Personally, rather than a sequel movie I really really would like to see Mulan tv-series. Something like Tangled: the Series. It could have the sillier filler episodes but the main plot could be epic. Series could also make possible to explore side characters' character arc in more detail. I have played with this idea before too, with my friend @mulanxiaojie.
I'm quite satisfield how the first movie ended, but I'll list some pointers that I and I think most would like to see in a continuation story:
Mulan getting a career
Mulan and Shang getting together
Chi Fu x Matchmaker :P
And then some that are not really necessary but would be really interesting to see, just to list some of the potential sequel tv series could have:
Fa Zhou's past
Mulan's and Granma Fa's relationship
seeing the other guardians besides Mushu (and the Great Stone Dragon)
developing Gang of Three as invidual characters
exploring historical China
an actual villain (should be basic but the sequel didn't have that)
Imagine that Leia, a newly powerful force-user, begins to have concerning visions about the future, and of her family’s complicated past. When her son is born, the visions culminate into a shocking omen. Her son would become one of the most powerful Jedi in history, at one terrible cost: His surrender to the dark side. And he has only one fate: Death.
To save her son, Leia does the only thing she can: she cuts herself off from the Force, and vows that her child will never train in the ways of the Jedi. This only complicates things as Ben grows to be an obviously powerful force-user in desperate need of a teacher. But Leia’s unwanted visions never stop, and Ben’s affinity for the dark side only grows, so she refuses.
Luke, desperate for a way to save his nephew, and attempting to abide by his sister’s wishes, dedicates his time to recovering the remnants of the Jedi Order and training a new generation of Jedi that just might be able to rewrite Ben’s destiny.
Luke soon hears of a young force-sensitive on the planet Jakku. And when he goes to find her, he is instead given a vision, a prophecy of one final battle between the Dark and the Light. Good vs. Evil. Ben was born of the Dark Side, and this young girl of the Light. A Force Dyad. She is destined to kill him, or be killed by him, which would wrench the galaxy into imbalance forever.
Refusing to let this come to pass, Luke leaves the girl on Jakku, unable to imagine a future where this girl kills his nephew, or one where his nephew kills the girl. He returns home to his sister and asks one last time to make Ben his apprentice. He tells Leia he understands, that he has finally seen as she has, and he vows his life to stop it.
But prophecies cannot be unwritten. And although Leia finally approved his training, and Luke swore anything to protect his sister’s child, Ben was lost.
Until one day, many years later, the girl abandoned on Jakku finds Luke on his refuge of Ahch-To to return a once lost lightsaber and ask him for the one thing he cannot give her…
tl;dr I just want there to be a different reason for how/why everything went down, and I always wondered why they never incorporated a prophecy into the sequel saga, because the other two sagas have one. Especially with the Force Dyad stuff, it just needs a good ole’ doomsday prophecy to tie everything together.
Tatooine is such a miserable place to live. There’s no room to experiment with what you grow on your farm, every drop of moisture counts. Most crops would take too much effort to grow and not make a good enough return.
So moisture farmers stick with a limited rotation of crops and hearty desert livestock. It’s what allows them to eke out an honest living on a crime riddled world.
I think Luke didn’t hate farming, he hated being forced to do it on such a difficult, stagnant world, and the stress of it as a living.
But eventually he was free to set aside a garden box or two on a planet with healthy soil, a planet where water wasn’t scarce. A place where he could just plant this and that. Just as a hobby.
The same with livestock, he could raise a few poultry if he felt like it. Maybe keep a nerf for milk. It was so much easier than keeping a farm in order on Tatooine. Relaxing even.
In banishment, traveling from planet to planet, knowing how to set up a little garden for himself was incredibly helpful. Luke wasn’t about to end up without any seasonings like Yoda, on the planets without residents.
He wasn’t so much a hermit as he was a nomad. A wanderer. But Skywalker had always wanted to travel growing up, and that was a highlight of being banished.
He met so many people. Not just Force sensitives living on worlds with Jedi history, or youngsters seeking to be taught. Just people in general, on worlds that weren’t synonymous with crime. Shopkeeps and children running in the streets and old people lounging around people-watching and gossiping.
And of course he got to fly. He avoided the highly populated paths, and that lead to challenging trips and stunning views he wouldn’t have had otherwise.
Luke had enemies too. The Republic was just keeping the peace and upholding his banishment, they weren’t really enemies. But Palpatine’s ghost refused to give the galaxy peace. He wanted to stop the Jedi resurgence.
Skywalker gradually became more and more unassuming. More random handmade gadgets on his arms and face, more carrying scrap around, more stained clothes and wild hair.
He just stopped being so concerned with how he looked as he got older. It didn’t really matter what his enemies tried to insult him with, if anything that gave him an advantage. Maybe that was why it stuck. Effective.
Or maybe it was the fact he hadn’t seen Kylo since he was 10, and he didn’t want to fight. Palpatine wanted the kid to think Luke wanted him dead, that they were going to fight to the death. Maybe he just didn’t want to look the part.
It has been thirty years since the Battle of Endor. The NEW REPUBLIC rules most of the Galaxy. However, the Republic is spread thin fighting Imperial Holdout factions, which still control pockets of the Outer Rim and key worlds along hyperspace routes. Fortunately, none of these Holdouts are currently working together. The largest surviving holdout is the FIRST ORDER, which holds a large portion of the Southwest Galaxy. Worst of all, they are working on what looks like a Death Star, STARKILLER BASE. Because of this threat, the New Republic has sent a group of Special Forces, led by General LEIA ORGANA to take down the FIRST ORDER, led by the mysterious REGENT SNOKE. Rumors imply SNOKE is a powerful Force-User, as is his apprentice, REY. Unfortunately, LUKE SKYWALKER, the last JEDI KNIGHT is nowhere to be found. He disappeared seven years ago. The last person to see him was his apprentice and nephew, BEN SOLO, who has been looking for him ever since…
PLOT SUMMARY:
The movie opens largely the same. POE DAMERON is visiting JAKKU, a planet on the border between NEW REPUBLIC and FIRST ORDER space, meeting LOR SAN TEKKA, picking up a map to Luke’s whereabouts. Unfortunately, the meeting is interrupted by REY, who has arrived with a battalion of Stormtroopers, which includes FN-2187. You know the scene. POE DAMERON is taken captive, but not before he gives the map to BB-8, instructing him to “Find Ben. Get help.” The dialogue between REY and LOR SAN TEKKA lets us know this is her homeworld. She was abandoned here as a child before LUKE SKYWALKER found her and took her away. She leaves the village after ordering it destroyed, returning to her Star Destroyer.
There, she meets with her subordinates, ADMIRAL HUX, CAPTAIN PHASMA, and FN-2187. There, they go over the fact that they failed to get the map, but they suspect POE had a companion on JAKKU. The basics of the politics are explained: right now the REPUBLIC is stretched too thin to give the FIRST ORDER their full attention. However, the REPUBLIC is slowly taking out the other Imperial holdouts, and certain Senators are calling for a full-scale invasion of FIRST ORDER SPACE. The call to invade is particularly being made by the Senator from HOSNIAN PRIME. “HOSNIAN PRIME?” HUX asks. “That’s in the Core itself, practically next to Coruscant. The entire Republic fleet must stand between us and them.” His frown turns into a wicked grin, and he only says one word. “Perfect.” No further detail is given. The conversation turns to FN-2187, and why he’s here. Rey reveals her plan: POE DAMERON must escape with FN’s help. His ability to shield his mind from the Force will allow him to infiltrate the NEW REPUBLIC base under the nose of BEN SOLO. He will then let the NEW REPUBLIC know where to find LEIA so they can kill her, destroying their morale. More importantly, FN is to get his hands on the map to LUKE SKYWALKER.
FN does as he is told. He helps POE break out, notably avoiding shooting his fellow STORMTROOPERS. POE gives FN the new name of FINN. FINN is notably struck by this, in a “I’ve never had a name before” kind of way. However, their escape is detected, and the TIE squadrons shoot them down, and POE seems to die. FINN is left stranded in the JAKKU desert. However, he finds BB-8, who has been in the care of BEN SOLO, who we see on screen for the first time. We learn he has been trying to find a ship offworld, as POE had their ride. The scene then unfolds largely the same as before. FINN and BEN make their way offworld in the MILLENIUM FALCON. With neither being an experienced pilot, they get lost, sending the MILLENIUM FALCON quite a ways off course into the OUTER RIM, which is dominated by Pirates. Speaking of Pirates, a group of them capture our heroes, and declare their intention to sell the ship (and its crew) on the black market. They were, in fact, just about to sell some other stolen goods to some dealers that are arriving now… except these dealers start firing on the pirates. Meanwhile, the pirate ship is taken and boarded by the leader of these vigilantes… HAN SOLO, with the ever faithful CHEWBACCA at his side. We learn that HAN has dedicated himself to hunting down the pirates and slavers that prey on the innocent people of the OUTER RIM, since the NEW REPUBLIC won’t pay attention to this area. His vigilante crew includes PAIGE TICO, who led the shootout while HAN disabled the ship. (ROSE is also among them, but apart from a mention by PAIGE perhaps, we won’t see her.)
It is only then that HAN realizes that one of the people he has rescued is his own son, BEN. The two of them catch up on the FALCON, with FINN as their guest. We hear FINN’S cover story: he is a child soldier who didn’t like how expendable he was. We get a feeling he may be lying to himself. From their conversation, we learn the following: when BEN was four, he was sent to live with LUKE to train to be a Jedi. HAN was so angry at losing his son that he left LEIA, and admits that he still hasn’t forgiven her for separating them. For some years, BEN trained as a JEDI along with several other children, including, sadly, REY. For some reason, one day REY snapped, and killed her fellow students, with BEN being the only surviving student. (He was fourteen, by the way. REY was eighteen.) The only other survivor, LUKE, found BEN among the wreckage. He told BEN to go find his mother, while he would “do something I should have done years ago.” BEN obeyed, but never saw LUKE again. BEN says he is following LUKE’S trail to a lost JEDI TEMPLE. HAN expresses skepticism. If LUKE was doing anything useful, where is he now? HAN invites BEN to rest and recuperate with his old friend, MAZ KANATA.
Meanwhile, we go to STARKILLER BASE. It is a large base, similar to the DEATH STAR in all aspects, save one. Above the main laser, there is a strange metal ring. (It must be featured prominently in the shot.) REY arrives, accompanied by her underlings, and is met by COMMANDER PRYDE, a spymaster of the FIRST ORDER. The conversation establishes that the FIRST ORDER rose to prominence because they came across some mysterious weapons depots and Imperial credit stores that allowed them to quickly rebuild their forces. They have continued, in fact, to have more lucky finds like this. PRYDE’S job has been to determine if they have a mysterious benefactor, and what he wants. PRYDE’S travels have taken him “from Kamino to Moraband.” He admits he has found nothing, and asks if STARKILLER BASE is ready. HUX confirms it is, and says, “The GATE RING should function perfectly.” PRYDE leaves for BASTION, the FIRST ORDER capital, before letting REY know her master, REGENT SNOKE, is waiting for her.
We cut from that to TAKODANA, where we meet MAZ KANATA. BEN asks MAZ to contact LEIA to meet them there, and let her know POE is dead. Exploring, he discovers ANAKIN’S lightsaber, which triggers a flashback. He is a child, eating with his fellow students. REY walks in, clearly cut up and hurt. One student confronts her, asking where LUKE is. “LUKE is dead. Get out of my way or you’ll be too.” Scared, the students try to take her down, but she cuts through them like butter. Terrified, BEN is backed into a corner. She tries to persuade him to put down his sword, but he brings down the building on them both. Later, he is found by LUKE and R2-D2. The flashback ends with MAZ meeting him. She gives him the lightsaber, as she feels it is his birthright. Finally, FINN calls the FIRST ORDER, letting them know the Map, BEN SOLO and LEIA are all about to be on the same planet.
Sorry to cut away from all that, but we finally get to see REGENT SNOKE! He's not CGI this time, unless we want to make him an already established alien species. (He can still be played by Andy Serkis.) He asks about REY'S progress in hunting down LUKE, and says she may not be ready to face her old Master. REY disagrees, and sets off to TAKODANA. Meanwhile, HUX is given the order to demonstrate the new power of the FIRST ORDER. He calls up the SENATE in a standard, "supervillain addresses the masses scene". (Hux's actor should chew the scenery like bubble gum.) We now find out what makes STARKILLER BASE special: the "gate ring" lets them fire their laser at any point in the galaxy without moving! HUX demonstrates this by destroying HOSNIAN PRIME, which sends the SENATE into a panic!
We cut to TAKODANA, where BEN falls down, overcome by the destruction he just sensed in the Force. The destruction of HOSNIAN PRIME is announced over the HoloNet. HAN lets us know the situation is serious, as he says something to the effect of, “HOSNIAN PRIME? The FIRST ORDER is too far away. Wait? They can do WHAT???” But ain’t nobody got time for that! The FIRST ORDER is attacking! FINN comes out to be picked up, but instead he is attacked by TR-8R! He tries to tell him he’s a double agent, but TR-8R doesn’t listen, and FINN is forced to kill him in self-defense. FINN is captured by stormtroopers, and only not killed because CAPTAIN PHASMA arrives, saying “Excellent work, FN-2187!” As FINN notes, she should have told the other Stormtroopers not to attack him, as he just killed one of his friends for nothing. PHASMA basically shrugs and says, “Hey, had to keep it secret.” FINN is clearly shocked and quite angry, but they’re off!
While all this is going on, HAN tells BEN to get out with BB-8. BEN naturally objects, but HAN says, “No matter what, they can’t know where LUKE is.” BEN proceeds to run, before being confronted by REY. BB-8 runs off while BEN faces REY. BEN futilely tries to drive her off with his blaster, which does not work, and REY’S facial expression seems to say, “Really? When has that ever worked?” She advances on him, and while he fumbles with his lightsaber, she knocks him out with the Force. She leaves carrying him with the Force, telling the FIRST ORDER to leave.
Just as they’re doing so, the NEW REPUBLIC force arrives, led by LEIA and POE DAMERON! (Who, as it turns out, is not dead.) However, the only person there to meet them is HAN, who is not happy to see LEIA. Their conversation tells us about BEN’S childhood. He has had trouble controlling his Force Powers, particularly when sleeping. When he was four, his power nearly destroyed their house. LEIA naturally decided she and HAN weren’t safe around him, and gave him to LUKE for training as a JEDI. HAN never forgave her for that, and left. She brings HAN and his crew back to the NEW REPUBLIC hideout to discuss plans to take down STARKILLER BASE. The idea is right now, several REPUBLIC worlds are in panic that they could be next, calling for immediate surrender. Taking out STARKILLER will let the REPUBLIC take out the FIRST ORDER. HAN points out that BEN is on STARKILLER BASE, and he might die if they blow up the base. LEIA agrees, but she can’t call off the attack. If another world suffers the fate of HOSNIAN PRIME or ALDERAAN, she would be responsible for millions of deaths, compared to just one. She tells HAN to try to save BEN, as it will take some time for her to get her fleet of X-WINGS and Y-WINGS ready. She also tells him to take out the shield generator for the base.
Speaking of BEN, we cut to him, strapped to a table, with REY sitting beside him. As REY explained, he has been shot up with a bunch of sedatives that are only beginning to wear off. Their conversation is surprisingly cordial, at least on her end. She expresses her surprise that he’s not with LUKE, as they were very close at the Academy. She reads his mind to find out LUKE’S location, but he is able to reverse the stream, and gets a look in her mind. He sees something that terrifies him. She simply says, “Well, now you know,” and leaves to report to SNOKE. She leaves behind a group of Stormtroopers, ordering them not to let BEN leave until she sends for him. HAN and CHEWIE land on STARKILLER in the FALCON. After this, FINN arrives alone, claiming he is here to take BEN to REY. The commanding officer is skeptical, as FINN is one soldier. He calls in to clear the transfer, before FINN shoots the other Stormtroopers. There is a call in, which FINN fumbles before shooting the intercom. He proceeds to let BEN out of his bindings, and BEN proceeds to strangle him. (As you do…) FINN only talks BEN out of killing him by pointing out BEN is in no fit state to fly. They make their way to the hangar, where they find the FALCON. Realizing HAN is likely there, BEN calls him on the comlink. They get back in touch, with HAN telling BEN to stay put while he takes out the shields. FINN interjects, saying he knows how to turn off the shields more subtly. HAN tells them to go do it while he sets up explosives on the base. (The idea is that they will distract the FIRST ORDER while POE attacks.) FINN and BEN proceed to press-gang PHASMA into turning off the shield, before leaving her in the trash compactor. Unfortunately, HAN is captured by some STORMTROOPERS, who take him to REY.
REY is very happy with this, as she is furious BEN has escaped. She makes an announcement over the intercom, saying, “BEN, I have your father. If you want to see him alive again, come to the main antechamber in one hour.” She proceeds to pour out a drink for herself and Han. She is somewhat starstruck by HAN SOLO, saying he is legendary, and LUKE mentioned him a lot. She openly speculates what she’ll do to LUKE when she meets him. She says SNOKE expects her to kill him, but she wants to thank him. After all, if not for, she would have stayed on JAKKU forever. SNOKE would not have found her, and she certainly would have never found out about her father. HAN asks her what the hell she’s talking about. REY notes that for years, no one has asked why SNOKE refers to himself as “REGENT” SNOKE. As she points out, a regent has one job: rule until the prince, or in her case, the princess, is ready to rule. REY, as she claims, is the daughter of none other than EMPEROR PALPATINE himself. HAN is skeptical. PALPATINE never had a family. Moreover, he died thirty years ago, and REY is still in her twenties. REY then clarifies; PALPATINE never wanted children, but his court kept a sample of his DNA preserved just in case. Some time after his death, this DNA was used to create a child. In order to protect her from the NEW REPUBLIC, she was hidden on a backwater world until she could be brought to safety. Unfortunately, the scientists were arrested for war crimes, and by the time SNOKE found out about her, he didn’t know where she was. HAN is skeptical, which annoys REY significantly. But now it’s time to meet BEN.
They meet in the antechamber, with HAN surrounded by stormtroopers. There, REY delivers her ultimatum: if BEN surrenders himself to her, HAN will go free. There is a prisoner exchange, and as they pass each other, HAN simply says, “I’m sorry.” He grabs BEN’S blaster, and begins firing wildly at the Stormtroopers. As he calculated, the Stormtroopers start firing back, and one shoots him in the chest. BEN lets out a massive scream, which begins to tear the room apart in a display of raw Force Power. HAN’S last words are just, “Get out of here.” FINN takes the hint, and tears BEN away, just as POE begins his attack on STARKILLER BASE, accompanied by HAN’S gang, including PAIGE TICO. Unfortunately, they are not able to destroy the base, but they are able to destroy the gate ring, meaning that, until it is repaired, STARKILLER will not be able to fire from far away. POE, under LEIA’S orders, orders a retreat.
While this is happening, REY confronts BEN and FINN. First FINN tries to fight her off, but not successfully. It is not until BEN gets ANAKIN’S lightsaber out that this becomes a real fight. Even then, it is clear REY has the upper hand, and she is only not killing BEN because she wants him alive. Nonetheless, BEN manages to land a lucky cut, temporarily stopping REY. After this, a stray bomb landing on the base separates them, and FINN and BEN manage to make it to the FALCON. They take the FALCON back to LEIA. There, LEIA tells BEN to go find LUKE, and get his help. Meanwhile, she and POE will make their way back to REPUBLIC space. She will let them know the FIRST ORDER is vulnerable, but only if they attack quickly. She has to abandon the base, as the FIRST ORDER will almost certainly follow them in order to silence her. The movie closes with BEN landing on AHCH-TO, finding a hooded LUKE, and handing him his lightsaber. The two men look each other in the eyes after years of being apart, and the credits roll.
