Disney’s “Biggest Mistake” Could Finally Be Fixed With Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance Replacement

Galaxy’s Edge is ambitious, but it has never completely escaped one major criticism: it just doesn’t feel like Star Wars.

When Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opened at Disneyland in 2019 and Disney’s Hollywood Studios later that year, Disney made an unusual choice. Instead of recreating locations from the original trilogy, the land was placed firmly within the era of the sequel films.

That meant no Darth Vader roaming the streets. No young Luke Skywalker. No Han Solo or Princess Leia leading the Rebellion. Instead, Batuu was built around Rey, Kylo Ren, the Resistance, and the First Order.

For some fans, that decision prevented Galaxy’s Edge from becoming the nostalgic Star Wars destination they had expected.

“I still think this is one of Disneys biggest mistakes. They totally could’ve had a land that compares to the Wizarding World. But no,” one fan wrote.

Disney has since started loosening those restrictions.

Earlier in 2026, Disneyland Resort changed the timeline of Galaxy’s Edge, opening the door for characters from other periods of the Star Wars saga to appear alongside those originally created for the land.

That change has inevitably raised another question: could Disney eventually do the same thing to Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance?

Could Rise of the Resistance Become an Original Trilogy Ride?

Rise of the Resistance remains the centerpiece of Galaxy’s Edge.

The attraction sends guests aboard a Resistance transport before they are captured by a First Order Star Destroyer. From there, riders encounter stormtroopers, General Hux, Kylo Ren, Finn, Rey, Poe Dameron, and other sequel-era characters.

Its combination of trackless vehicles, enormous sets, Audio-Animatronics, live Cast Members, projection effects, and multiple ride systems helped establish it as one of Disney’s most technologically complicated attractions.

But some fans would rather experience essentially the same adventure with characters from George Lucas’ original trilogy.

Darth Vader could take Kylo Ren’s place as the ride’s main threat. Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) could replace Rey (Daisy Ridley) during the attraction’s opening briefing, while other Resistance characters could be swapped for members of the Rebel Alliance.

The name itself would require only a small adjustment. Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance could theoretically become Star Wars: Rise of the Rebellion.

This is 100% going to happen for the following reasons.

– to revive the attraction
– because the sequels are a stain to the brand
– it's an easy retheme. Change the story a bit

I enjoy ROTR, it's Disney's top next gen ride. But an OT retheme would elevate this attraction… https://t.co/3OJKVLWVsh

— Ivan (@Valiantes_) August 28, 2026

“It’s an amazing ride but imagine Leia being the hologram, Akbar being the pilot, Finns being Han Solo, Kylos as Vaders, Hux as Grand Moff Tarkin, etc.,” one fan wrote.

Another said, “I enjoy ROTR, it’s Disney’s top next gen ride. But an OT retheme would elevate this attraction,” adding that “the sequels are a stain to the brand.”

Others have been even more direct about wanting Disney to move away from the sequel trilogy.

“There are real Star Wars fans out there starving for OT content. Let’s put an end to the fake sentiment for the Disney slop and give us what the people really want,” one wrote.

Hell they should do it now

Galaxy’s Edge is cool but all I can think is “damn this would be so much better if it wasn’t the sequels”

I still think this is one of Disneys biggest mistakes. They totally could’ve had a land that compares to the Wizarding World. But no. https://t.co/nrNAf63l17

— The Carnotaurus from DINOSAUR (@OdysseyJurassic) August 28, 2026

That criticism has followed the land for years. Galaxy’s Edge contains plenty of recognizable Star Wars imagery, including the Millennium Falcon, but it largely avoided recreating the planets, characters, and situations featured in the franchise’s earliest movies.

An original trilogy version of Rise of the Resistance would give Disney a way to bring considerably more of that nostalgia into the land without replacing Galaxy’s Edge altogether.

Why Disney Probably Won’t Replace Rise of the Resistance Soon

Actually rebuilding the attraction would be far more complicated than changing which characters walk around Batuu.

Disney has never confirmed exactly how much Rise of the Resistance cost, although estimates have placed each version at approximately $450 million.

A substantial retheme could require Disney to modify enormous physical sets, rewrite dialogue, replace effects, reprogram ride sequences, and alter many of the roughly 65 Audio-Animatronics reportedly used throughout the attraction.

Casting would create another problem.

Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill are now decades older than Han Solo and Luke Skywalker were during the original trilogy. Disney would need to recast the characters, limit their appearances, or digitally recreate younger versions of the actors.

Lucasfilm has already experimented extensively with that technology. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) digitally recreated Carrie Fisher as a young Princess Leia. It also recreated Peter Cushing, who died in 1994, as Grand Moff Tarkin, prompting debate about both the realism and ethics of digitally resurrecting deceased performers.

There is also little commercial urgency to make such an enormous change.

“Disney is not targeting middle-aged men,” one fan argued. “If they do update Galaxy’s Edge, it will be to match the next wave of films, not movies from 50 years ago. As it is, the sequels made four billion dollars, and Rise is consistently one of the most popular attractions in the parks.”

The numbers support the final part of that argument.

Queue Times data shows Rise of the Resistance averaging waits of roughly 55 minutes at Disneyland Park and 48 minutes at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in 2026. More than six years after its debut, guests are still lining up.

Disney also has no shortage of other theme park projects demanding money.

Another fan compared the situation to Disneyland’s Fantasmic! dragon, nicknamed Murphy, which was destroyed by fire in 2023 and has still not received a direct replacement.

“If they’re not even willing to spend the money to fix Murphy, I strongly doubt they’re going to spend the money to retheme what’s arguably one of the best rides they’ve ever developed. I just don’t see it happening.”

For now, there is no credible evidence that Disney plans to replace or extensively retheme Rise of the Resistance.

But Disneyland has already abandoned one rule that once defined Galaxy’s Edge by expanding beyond its original sequel-trilogy timeline.

For fans who still consider Disney’s decision to sideline the original trilogy one of Galaxy’s Edge’s “biggest mistakes,” that change has made a once-impossible Rise of the Resistance overhaul seem slightly less impossible.

Do you think Disney should replace the current version of Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance with an original trilogy attraction?