Zito, you miss entirely what the Star Wars movies are. First, the 3 core trilogies are the Skywalker Saga. That's literally the alternative name for them. If Rey ends up not being Luke's daughter, it disrupts the whole franchise. It's the story of one family. Suddenly having the main character not be part of that family would be like Indiana Jones 4 being centered on Marcus Brody's adventures.
Apart from the fact that it would make the franchise disjointed, the lack of explanation of any of the mythology of the new trilogy leaves the audience very unfulfilled. Rian Johnson created huge Chekov's Gun problems. When you hang a pistol on the wall in a play, by the end of the next act that gun needs to be fired. JJ Abrams set up the mystery surrounding Rey and Snoke. Their pasts weren't written off quickly as unimportant. They were intentionally veiled.
By killing Snoke and trying to make Rey a nobody, Johnson took the mystery and completely dismissed it. This leaves the audience feeling robbed. What's the point of setting up the mystery if you don't eventually have a reveal? It basically was Johnson laughing at the audience and saying "All of you are so stupid for thinking there was more to Rey and Snoke". You don't mock your audience like that, especially not when you're directing a pop culture film like Star Wars.
As for killing Snoke making things more confusing, there was no explanation of Snoke. He went from mystery to deus ex machina. He was a great opportunity for a rich back story that explained the connection from the Empire to the First Order. Instead he just became a magic plot device to explain Kylo's turn to the dark side. Where he came from, how he rose to power, how he knows about the force, etc are all left unexplained which really makes the story a lot less clear.
Luke takes control of his character and presses the attack at multiple points. He decides to join up with the Rebellion and fly against the Death Star when he could have left with Han. Luke leaves Dagobah against Yoda's orders and attacks Vader at Cloud City. Luke turns himself in on Endor to get a chance to overthrow the Emperor and turn his father back to the Light Side. Rey doesn't press the attack like this. It has made Rey a much weaker character than she should be.
I think Luke had to die. In any story like this, the old hero has to die for the new hero to arise. Obi Wan had to die for Luke to arise. In Harry Potter, Dumbledore had to die for Harry to arise. Without the death of the old hero, the new hero relies upon the old as a crutch.
However, the way Luke died felt pointless. The problem with Luke's death is that it happens after the tension is resolved. The Resistance had escaped and Luke dropped his force connection. The conflict is over and at that point he just chooses to die. If you're going to kill off the main character of the entire franchise, you do it in a large showing of self-sacrifice.
Imagine if Luke had done everything he did as an illusion except he did it in person. He alone stands toe to toe against Kylo and the first order. He displays incredible power to hold off overwhelming force and then once the Resistance is away, he gives in like Obi Wan. It would be so much more impactful to have Luke stride into battle, looking to atone for his failure with Kylo, trying to save his friends, and having no intention of surviving. Much more true to the character.
Rian Johnson's directing was a series of acknowledging what the audience wanted and then denying them that.
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