What if TFA was the search for Luke/Leia?

I can see where you're coming from there but have BOTH would have been cheesy. Maybe keep Leia as is except she is very manipulative in TFA. She knows exactly where Luke is but only she knows because she doesn't want the information getting into the wrong hands and have Luke's hard work destroyed. It's not until the start of the movie that she sends Poe to pick up the missing piece of the map that she had hid with LST. Meanwhile Han and Chewie are not only tring to find the falcon but also his son, Ben, since the falcon should be in his posession. So basically, Leia instigates the search for Luke. At some point in the movie we see Leia reveal herself as an actual jedi when troops try to infiltrate Maz's castle (Where Leia should have been) and she kills them all protecting everyone. Rey's involvement would be that what you said...Leia senses senses Rey in a similar way that the jedi sense anakin in TPM and she sends Han to find her and pretty much "buys" rey from Unkar. Han and Rey bond and he explains the force to her and how her midichlorian levels are off the charts and he needs to take her to an old friend. Finn would relate to the story in my view, in that, he secretly worships the jedi as in he is a "jedi fanboy" but hides it. Instead of defecting from the first order because of seeing ONE battle, he defects because he heres rumors among the upper ranks that they are trying to retreive a map to Luke Skywalker so he defects. So then with the ending, after Han finally delivers Rey to Leia, she should have gone on a personal ship with Rey without chewie and the two of them should have went and found Luke together. For TFA Luke should not have looked like that considering his personality.

 

It would be a interesting search, Leia being the padawan while Luke being the teacher.

 

Interesting reads,

I just Leia as a force to be reckoned with and not one to be holed up in isolation.