BB-8 Puppeteer Says Sequel Backlash Is Repeating Prequel History

Brian Herring, the puppeteer and performer behind BB-8 in the sequel trilogy, thinks Star Wars fans have seen this cycle before. In a new interview with Gamereactor, Herring argued that the sequel trilogy is “no more polarising” than the prequels were when they first landed, suggesting today’s online backlash says as much about generational turnover as it does about the films themselves. Herring has long been closely tied to modern Star Wars on screen, with StarWars.com previously spotlighting his work bringing BB-8 to life.

The Internet Changed the Volume, Not the Pattern

Herring’s basic argument is pretty sharp: people angry about the sequels are often too young to remember how intensely fans pushed back against the prequels when those films arrived. His point is not that everyone has to like Episodes VII-IX. It is that the reaction pattern feels familiar, only louder now because every debate gets amplified online. In his view, if today’s social-media ecosystem had existed in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the prequel discourse would have looked a lot like the sequel discourse does now.

The Sequel Generation Is Already Here

What makes the quote interesting is that Herring is not talking about some distant hypothetical fanbase. He told Gamereactor that he already meets plenty of younger sequel-era fans, even if they are less visible than older voices dominating internet arguments. That is the same broad shift Star Wars has seen before: films that take a beating on release eventually get reabsorbed by the generation that grew up with them. Herring’s prediction is that the sequels will keep moving in that direction over the next decade.

A Familiar Star Wars Argument With a New Cast

This is why the comment lands better than the usual “actually, the sequels were always misunderstood” take. Herring is not pretending the debate does not exist. He explicitly says it is fine if people do not like the films. The more interesting part is his suggestion that Star Wars fandom keeps replaying the same cultural argument with a different trilogy every time. The villains change, the heroes change, the social platform changes, but the generational rhythm looks weirdly consistent.

The Sequel Reassessment May Already Be Starting

That does not mean the sequels will suddenly become universally loved. But Herring’s point feels hard to dismiss: the conversation around sequel-era Star Wars may be a lot less permanent than it sounds when you are stuck in the middle of it. If the prequels taught fandom anything, it is that today’s punchline can become tomorrow’s nostalgia surprisingly fast.

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