Kylo Ren should have been the main villain in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker instead of Emperor Palpatine. Introduced in The Force Awakens, Kylo Ren quickly emerged as one of the most fascinating characters in the Star Wars saga. As the son of Han Solo and Princess Leia, Kylo represented the meta nature of the sequel trilogy; he was the descendent of a famous bloodline trying to live up to the legacy of his iconic grandfather. From the first movie, Kylo Ren was established as a truly conflicted figure, torn between the light and dark sides of the Force. His portrayal was unlike anything seen in the Star Wars movies before.
Given his familial connections to the original trilogy's hero, there was a lot of drama to mine from Kylo Ren's arc, and for the most part, the trilogy delivered on that promise. His confrontation with Han Solo at the end of The Force Awakens is one of the more emotional moments in the sequels, and his dynamic with Luke Skywalker fleshed out both characters in a compelling fashion. Unfortunately, Kylo's role in The Rise of Skywalker wasn't as fascinating as the previous two movies, following a similar trajectory to Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi.
The reasoning for this is one of The Rise of Skywalker's most divisive aspects: the inclusion of Emperor Palpatine. Palpatine was brought in to be the thread that tied all three trilogies of the Skywalker saga together, making him the overarching villain of the entire franchise. From a certain point of view, it's easy to see why J.J. Abrams was tempted to go back to the Palpatine well, but in doing so he neglected the better choice for the film's antagonist: Kylo Ren.
The Last Jedi Set Up Kylo Ren As Rise of Skywalker's Villain
In The Force Awakens, Kylo Ren is obviously dealing with inner conflict as he tries to find his place in the world. At first blush, his journey appeared to be the inverse of Luke's. Audiences met Kylo Ren as a dark side user, and he was going to fight off the pull of the light to become the heir apparent to Darth Vader. Adding credence to this was his murdering Han Solo; while the act tormented Kylo, some could have interpreted it as him taking the first steps on the path to no return. Anakin Skywalker committed multiple atrocities as Vader, but he never killed a loved one. That was a line Kylo was willing to cross.
The Last Jedi builds on this by having Kylo descend further into the darkness. While he can't bring himself to pull the trigger on General Leia (who was the one person in the universe that could reach him), he does kill Supreme Leader Snoke and appoints himself as new head of the First Order. He assumes command of the entire army, and at the end of the film, he pledges that he will destroy Rey and her fledgling Rebellion, setting the stage for a high-stakes, emotional conflict with Kylo as the primary threat. It would have been an interesting direction for the saga to follow. Many thought Snoke was going to be the Palpatine surrogate that needed to be defeated at the end of the third film, but Snoke was gone in the second movie. Sadly, Abrams didn't run with the thread and replaced the Palpatine surrogate with a Palpatine clone.
Rise of Skywalker Wasted Kylo Ren's Potential
As stated above, Kylo Ren is arguably the best character to come out of Disney's sequel trilogy. This is no doubt in part due to Adam Driver's captivating performances, but Abrams and Johnson deserve credit for the way Kylo Ren was written. There were a lot of layers to unpack, with the films only scratching the surface of Ben Solo's tragic backstory (passed off by his parents, betrayed by his uncle, etc.). If he became the sequel trilogy's ultimate villain, it could have been an extremely compelling end to the trilogy - one that was poignant and challenging for viewers. As the villain, audiences would have wanted to see Kylo stopped, but considering what he's been through, he'd be sympathetic in the eyes of some - making his downfall all the more saddening.
But with Palpatine forced back into the fold, Kylo Ren was at a bit of a crossroads for much of The Rise of Skywalker. Since the filmmakers wanted to redeem Ben Solo, they couldn't have him descend further into darkness to the point where it'd be hard to sell his turn back to the light. So instead of fully embracing Kylo's new role as Supreme Leader, he was pitted against Palpatine from the start; first trying to convince Rey to take his hand and then ultimately coming to Rey's aid at the end. Driver was arguably wasted in The Rise of Skywalker, as Kylo frankly didn't have much to do. It was unfortunately a shortchanged part for one of the trilogy's standout characters. Elements of his Rise of Skywalker arc are confusing since they aren't full fleshed out - and that ultimately hurts Kylo's journey in the movie. It felt like Kylo Ren was placed in a holding pattern until it was time for him to become Ben Solo again.
Palpatine's Rise of Skywalker Return Wasn't Satisfying
When the first Rise of Skywalker trailer revealed Palpatine was coming back, there was much excitement. But when viewers finally got an opportunity to see the film, many of them were let down. Despite the hype, Palpatine was seen as one of the weaker aspects in the entire movie. That the opening crawl did some classic Star Wars handwaving to "explain" his reappearance is one thing, but Palpatine's role in The Rise of Skywalker left people with more questions than answers. The fact tie-in publications like the official novelization had to fill in more Palpatine details is indicative of this and illustrated Disney knew they got things wrong. Palpatine's inclusion in the story required a number of retcons to the whole trilogy, some of which (i.e. Rey's parentage) seemingly clashed with the previous films.
Rey and Kylo's dynamic boosted the emotional core of the sequel trilogy's first two movies, and The Rise of Skywalker squeezed Palpatine between them. Instead of continuing to explore what made Rey and Kylo's relationship so interesting, the focus of The Rise of Skywalker is on Rey's connection to Palpatine - which was not clearly set up in either of the preceding films. That hampered The Rise of Skywalker in multiple ways. It asked viewers to get invested in a thread that had no real weight while relegating the one audiences really cared about to the sidelines. Since Palpatine wasn't even hinted at in The Force Awakens or The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker needed to do a lot of the legwork to set him up, and as a result, the arcs for certain characters suffered. Colin Trevorrow's Duel of the Fates didn't have Palpatine and made Kylo the main villain. In retrospect, it would have been interesting to see how that turned out.