Back when The Force Awakens came out, a lot of Star Wars fans were wondering why the planet Hosnian Prime and not Coruscant served as the New Republic’s capital, with Lucasfilm exec Pablo Hidalgo now revealing the decision stemmed from creative differences with director J.J. Abrams.
The shadow of controversy still looms over Disney’s sequel trilogy whenever it comes up. In fact, now that we’re seeing the last three movies in the Skywalker Saga as a single body, even The Force Awakens – which was received well by fans and critics overall – isn’t safe from criticisms that fans often level at the Mouse House’s incoherent mess.
Still, despite the widespread belief fact that J.J. Abrams’ film is basically a rehash of A New Hope, the story had its bold moments. A good case in point would be the annihilation of the New Republic. If the original Star Wars movie blew up Alderaan in a daring feat to show the tyranny of the Empire, The Force Awakens took it a step further by having the First Order completely cripple the galactic autonomy.
Apparently, though, some folks at Lucasfilm weren’t too pleased with the director’s decision to just destroy Coruscant, so they had to find a compromise.
The Star Wars exec actually brings up an interesting point. It wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense for the First Order to destroy the central hub of civilization in the galaxy. Hosnian Prime, meanwhile, as a makeshift capital for the New Republic and its fleet, is a completely different story.