Why I Can’t Stop Thinking About BB-8 and R2-D2 In The Last Jedi

Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been out for a couple of weeks now and the internet has been buzzing about many different topics regarding the new film. I could go on for days about different aspects of the film, but I’m here today to talk about droids.
[WARNING: SPOILERS FOR STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI BELOW!]

Now, I know with a new extension of a franchise, comes new characters. I’ll admit, when I first saw BB-8 in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I completely fell in love with it. I was so excited about the new character and its cute beeping noises. As a major fan of R2-D2, I was excited to see the two interact…maybe even see BB-8 join the R2-D2/C-3P0 team. If you’ve seen the films, you’ll know that things didn’t exactly work out that way. BB-8 has pretty much completely taken over the droid spotlight in the new films.

Does anyone else miss R2-D2, a lot?

I get it, R2-D2 is a pretty old droid, and he’s accomplished so much throughout the different storylines in Star Wars. However, I don’t see why he has to be replaced. BB-8’s presence in the films seems over the top. For example, in The Last Jedi, we see BB-8 operating an AT-ST, he captures three guards off camera, and he magically has a supply of coins in the weird casino scene to help take down a bunch of people in the way of our human characters. While I don’t doubt the progress that’s been made in droid technology over the years, come on, people?
I’m hoping that in the next movie things balance out a bit more. I think because Luke was part of this film, I had hoped he would reunite with R2-D2 in more of a real way and we would see them in action together once again. Instead, we just get a very brief conversation between the two. After everything that R2 has done in the series, you’d think they’d give him a bit more screen time and not trade him for a newer, flashier droid.