The Last Jedi doesn’t happen the way it did. Instead, the moment on the island where Rey tries to hand Luke the lightsaber has him reject it in anger and anguish, afraid that the past he thought he had left far behind him has re-emerged. It does not get casually tossed off the cliff for a cheap giggle. The reasons for the rejection can be broadly the same, if necessary, but they can be shown in a less weird and melodramatic way.

In this new version, Finn gets something (anything) to do, ideally something that will bring he and Rey closer together by the end.

Poe does not play “Can you hear me now?” with Hux. There is no casino planet, no obvious double cross and no little moppets with magical broomsticks.

Luke does not die at the end. Leia dies at the 2/3s point, and it’s this that finally brings Luke back into the fold, perhaps to get revenge, perhaps to honour her dying wish, whatever.

Snoke is not discarded like a used tissue. Kylo and Rey still communicate psychically, but there’s no hint of romance. Instead he starts to tempt her towards the dark side, leveraging the pain she feels towards the parents who abandoned her.

I dunno, just something which follows on more naturally from TFA, which is darker, and which definitely is less silly than what we got.

The Rise of Skywalker is in many ways the same as in reality, but it’s Snoke and not the Emperor that’s the Big Bad (although maybe you get the Emperor involved as some sort of Force ghost mentor to Snoke, or whatever). It follows on much more naturally from TLJ, because it doesn’t have to spend the first 30 minutes doing major course corrections. Finn and Rey get together, only for one of them to be killed off… or were they?