We’re only a week away from the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and it’s becoming clear that in spite of the blockbuster success of The Force Awakens, director Rian Johnson may have an even more difficult task on his hands than J.J...

That’s no small task. Comparisons between The Last Jedi and Empire have been flying around since credits rolled on The Force Awakens. Star Adam Driver has said that Last Jedi “has a different tone” from the first movie, just like Empire. And Johnson is aware of the problem, commenting to Entertainment Weekly, “I just tried to kind of ignore that aspect of it [the parallels to Empire] and have the story take the shape that it needed to.” But he also acknowledges that “by its very nature, there are some structural parallels.” There’s admittedly some room for concern, at least based on the small snippets of information we know about The Last Jedi. You can draw a line from Rey seeking out Luke for training to Luke seeing out Yoda, or between the Resistance clashing with a bloodied but by no means beaten First Order in the same way that the Empire came back as a resurgent force against the Rebels. And with the mystery of Rey’s unknown parentage, there’s even room for another big third-act “No, I am your father!” reveal. Add it all up with the visually and tonally darker trappings that the trailers have showcased, and there’s plenty of potential for The Empire Strikes Back to strike back yet again.

But following Empire too closely isn’t just a Star Wars problem. The idea that a sequel must be “the Empire Strikes Back of the series” has become prevalent across the entire entertainment industry, and that’s not a good thing.

There are literally dozens of examples. J.A. Bayona has described his upcoming Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom as the Empire of the rebooted dinosaur series. Dean DuBois called out Empire as a guiding star when describing his goals for How to Train Your Dragon 2. Wes Ball called The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials “the Empire Strikes Back of this three-movie series.” Screenwriter Chris Terrio called Batman v Superman "a bit of an Empire Strikes Back.”

It’s not just movies, either. Video games do it, too: BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk compared Mass Effect 2 to Empire when teasing that sequel, and game designer Antoine Thisdale told Polygon it was a touchstone when promoting Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Even comic-book writer Grant Morrison threw around the analogy when teasing his upcoming Wonder Woman: Earth Two graphic novel at Comic-Con this year.