“The Force Awakens” was…fine. It was better than the prequels. It was a good faith effort. But it really wasn’t any better than any of Abrams other franchise “renovations”, which were all fine for their moment, but which largely failed to resonate after the initial buzz faded. Abrams’ signature move is building a crack marketing high that, while extremely potent upon initial release, never, ever extends to a lasting cultural passion for the underlying film.

The series is in desperate need of an invested, visionary architect, not the competent property flipper they have in Abrams. “Star Wars” needs a filmmaker whose perspective controls all elements of the entire series going forward. It needs a new George Lucas. It needs a single, authorial voice.

Aside from the monumental challenge of finding that grand author, the kink in that plan is that Disney doesn’t want to share any of the loot with that author once they’ve found him/her. They don’t want to be beholden to that visionary, financially or creatively. So the corporate plan is to turn “Star Wars” into an authorless brand vessel with no overarching vision, just familiar creatures, spaceships, and lightsabers guided by a random directorial guest-star-of-the-moment.

And while that may excite shareholders and Disney accountants, it’s going to be a bummer for the fans no matter who is directing any given episode.