What I really believed at the time, and thought might be possible with some of the boldness shown in Last Jedi as well as the talk about letting the past die (and the title), was that they were setting up Kylo and Rey to join together and find a “middle way” in the Buddhist sense—not Jedi or Sith, but something new and truly balanced. Like he would become the antagonist, but Rey would bring him back and together they would discover this new approach. That would fulfill the chosen one prophecy more deeply, tying into the prequels, as well as give more meaning to burning “the sacred texts!” It would end the entire series on a hopeful note of breaking the cycle.

Then they could have all the movies and TV shows they wanted after that by setting them 10,000 years in the past or as side stories or whatever.