What Other Star Wars Characters Should Get Movies and/or Television Series?

Originally Posted 5/4/18
Updated 5/4/20

Rogue One proved that prequels don't have to suck at all and Lucasfilm recently announced that an entirely new trilogy with new characters, overseen by The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson, is a go (I've got a bad feeling about this). A future Star Wars movie produced by MCU-architect Kevin Feige has been greenlit. And Sleight writer/director J.D. Dillard is working on one as well. By now, everybody knows that the Han Solo prequel lost money and caused the studio to rethink things a bit. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Boba Fett and Jabba the Hutt were all rumored to have solo films on the drawing board and all got scrapped thanks to the Solo fiasco. So the Boba Fett movie morphed into The Mandalorian and both Cassian Andor and Kenobi have streaming series in the works. But who else's story would make a trip to the movies or a streaming subscription worth it? 

Captain Phasma

After 38 years of apparent sexism, Star Wars finally admitted (in The Force Awakens) that women can be just as evil as dudes. Unfortunately, she followed in the footsteps of Boba Fett as an ever-helmeted badass who falls to his or her death in only his or her second movie. Since she has no future, a look back at how Phasma rose through the Stormtrooper ranks might be pretty entertaining.









Darth Bane

Darth Bane is the reason that there's never been more than two sith warriors in one movie at the same time. He's no whiny brat like Kylo Ren. This guy was a self-made villain of epic proportions. Wouldn't you like to see how he got that way?









Grand Admiral Thrawn

 

Grand Admiral Thawn is one of the Expanded Universe characters that survived Disney's Star Wars-canon purge. We've never gotten a chance to really know a Star Destroyer commander onscreen and a movie featuring one who happens to be a genius tactician would make for some pretty good viewing. But the fact that his skin is blue may be a little too far on the Star Trek side of things. Why not just make him Black? Roll the cameras.   









A Non-Mandalorian Bounty Hunter

One of the many, many sins committed by Attack of the Clones was its dirtying of Boba Fett's image. So, instead of beating a dead tauntaun, the galaxy's most famous Mandalorian should be the only one we see from here out. But we could definitely use some more mercenaries onscreen. And The Empire Strikes Back already established that bounty hunters come in all shapes, sizes and races so why not give the spotlight to a fresh face?

(Another) One of Luke's Students

So Kylo Ren is a pretty shi**y Darth Vader wannnabe. He's not even a good Jacen Solo rip-off. And Rey only got three lessons. Why not focus on a Skywalker apprentice in a watchable tv show or movie? Maybe the third time'll be the charm.









A Rebel Alliance Commando

We've seen plenty of Rebel pilots but we've never gotten an in-depth look at the Alliance's ground troops. Front-line grunts always have hellish but interesting stories.  









Saw Gerrera

Rogue One showed us how his story ends. It would be interesting to see the beginning and middle. The craziest ones always have the best stories.









A Galactic Republic Jedi

Rogue One gave us lots of great things. Chief among them were: the chance to see Darth Vader in action; and the realization that Star Wars has enough integrity to cut down some of its heroes in their prime (not just old f***s like Kenobi, Yoda and an over-the-hill Han Solo). A movie set during Vader's jedi mop-up period would give us more of the same. "Less is more" is probably a good rule-of-thumb in this case but seeing the man in black in his prime going after at least one Force-wielder might be worth a trip to the theater.

A Deathtrooper

It would be nice to get a Star Wars story from the Imperial perspective. We got a hint of just that with The Force Awakens' Finn but he turned his back on the Empire immediately following his very first mission. Let's see an experienced, battle-hardened, veteran trooper's point-of-view. 









Luke Skywalker

If a talented Mark Hamill look-a-like can be found (Sebastian Stan), the son of Vader's experiences as the galaxy's lone -- and conflicted Jedi -- could prove very interesting. There were more than a few telltale signs in Return of the Jedi that Luke may have been on a long, slow slide to the dark side. The cybernetic hand, the penchant for wearing black clothing and the murderous rage displayed in the Emperor's throne room all point to the fact that the farm boy from Tatooine is indeed his father's son. Watching him wrestle with the instincts that accompany his paternal genes while wielding his green lightsaber pre- and post-the Battle of Endor might make for some damn good cinema. 









Lando Calrissian

Sure, Lando was featured in Solo, but the man who destroyed the second Death Star deserves much more than a glorified cameo in someone else's story. Besides, lots of time passed between the original owner of the Millenium Falcon's loss of the ship and his stewardship of Bespin. There are certainly stories to tell between his loss of the city and his escape from Jabba's Palace with the rest of the gang as well.









General Grievous

Rogue One went a long way toward repairing the damage done to Darth Vader's image in the prequel trilogy and Return of the Jedi. General Grievous' legacy took just as big a hit in Revenge of the Sith. It would be great to see the live-action version of the fearless, Jedi-scalping, take-no-prisoners terminator that we saw in the Clone Wars animated series that aired on the Cartoon Network from 2003-2005 -- instead of the Cobra Commander-style coward that showed up in Episode III.









Darth Maul

Darth Maul is the second-most impressive red lightsaber wielder in the Star Wars onscreen galaxy. And unlike Darth Vader, he has the added benefit of never being depicted as anything but a badass. But unfortunately, he was only around for a single movie -- and an unnecessary cameo. Even more regrettable is the fact that that movie also featured Jar Jar Binx -- and in a much more prominent role. Placing Maul in a movie that's actually good would eliminate any need for The Phantom Menace to continue to exist.