Top Five Star Wars Characters That Should be Given Screen Time by Angela Rairden

(Warning: if you haven’t watched the second season of The Mandalorian, you may find a few very minor spoilers here.)

For fun, I created a list of characters that I’d really like to see either in a Star Wars movie, or in a television show. I feel as though Disney+’s The Mandalorian has given us so many amazing characters, from new ones like the Mandalorian himself and Grogu, to ones many have wanted to see in live action for awhile, such as Ahsoka Tano and Bo Katan, that it feels as though almost anything is possible now. Even cult favorite Boba Fett has happily made a reappearance.

To be clear, the following is my personal list of whom I think would be enjoyable to see in live action. For the most part, it isn’t a spec list of who I think will actually make an appearance because, honestly, comic collectors are speculating on every Star Wars character right now, and with good reason. We simply don’t know who is going to show up when or where. So, I’ll mention a few first appearance comics in this list but, if you don’t already own them, I’m not recommending that you rush out and try to buy them since it’s likely that their prices are already inflated.

Finally, I know that this is not an exhaustive list by any means. There are so many awesome characters out there in the Star Wars universe that I could probably write a dozen blogs on them and bore you all to death. So, without further ado, here’s a few of my favorites:

1. Mara Jade

Mara’s been a favorite of mine for quite awhile. My blog compatriot, Matt Tuck, wrote an entire blog post about her last month which you can check out if you’d like to, so I won’t bore you with too many details about her. However, the basics are this – Mara Jade is a Force-sensitive human who was once the Emperor’s Hand, but later became the wife of Luke Skywalker, a Jedi Master, and the mother of Luke’s child, Ben Skywalker. Prior to the events in the most recent Star Wars movies, Mara’s storyline, which originated in Timothy Zahn’s novel “Heir to the Empire”, was considered canon. Now, for obvious reasons, a live action Mara Jade appearance would have to deviate from her original origin story, but that doesn’t make me want to see her any less. Mara’s first comic appearance is Star Wars: Heir to the Empire #1, and if you have that comic, consider yourself lucky because it also happens to be first appearance of someone else on this list.

2. Doctor Aphra

A newer character, Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra’s story takes place during the time of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Her doctorate is in archaeology; however, she obtained the degree through a bit of (sort of justifiable) trickery and lies. No matter though, because it all lends credit to Aphra’s cleverness and cunning, which is important to note since she worked for Darth Vader for awhile and survived to tell the tale. Impressed with her skills at rebuilding old droids, Vader recruited Aphra after the Battle of Yavin, until such a time that she lost favor with him, at which point she faked her own death rather than be killed by Vader. Afterwards, she roamed the galaxy with her two droids, 0-0-0 and BT-1, as a thief, outlaw, sometimes criminal and just all-around awesome character. Aphra’s first appearance was in 2015’s Darth Vader #3, a comic which has definitely seen a jump in price recently.

3. Thrawn

After his name was mentioned in season 2 of The Mandalorian, Grand Admiral Thrawn’s popularity shot way up in the comic collecting world. I know Thrawn best from Timothy Zahn’s novels about the character, where the intelligence and strategic skills of this red-eyed, blue-skinned Chiss Imperial officer shine through. To be a Grand Admiral in the Imperial Navy, especially one personally appointed by Palpatine himself, one has to be ruthless, and Thrawn is definitely that. He is known to study the art, music, and culture of his enemies in order to fully understand, and then defeat, them. It’s worth noting that Thrawn was missing during the Battle of Endor, having previously been thrown into the great unknown by hyperspace-jumping creatures called purrgil during a fight with Jedi Padawan Ezra, and that the eventual outcome for the Empire may have been quite different had he been around to help. Like Mara Jade, Thrawn’s first comic appearance is in Star Wars: Heir to the Empire #1.

4. Vi Moradi

Vi is a character that has really only appeared in Star Wars novels so far, but she immediately became a favorite of mine because of her intellect and resourcefulness, as well as her sense of humor. A spy and pilot for the Resistance after the fall of the New Republic, Vi reports directly to Leia Organa. In Delilah S. Dawson’s 2017 novel “Phasma”, Vi is captured by the First Order’s Captain Cardinal, and not only endures his torture techniques by feeding him the history of his ultimate rival, Captain Phasma, but ultimately escapes and embarks on another adventure in Dawson’s follow up novel “Galaxy’s Edge: Black Spire”. I’m told that Vi is also a main character at Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge area of the park, where you can catch her (well, a Disney person dressed as her, obviously) fighting against First Order Stormtroopers if you’re lucky. She’s definitely a character that I think would be fun to see in live action of any sort.

5. Captain Phasma

I know what you’re thinking – Phasma was already in two movies, what more could you want? Well, the short answer is, a lot. Having read Dawson’s beforementioned novel “Phasma”, I’ve learned that there’s much more to this character than we get to see in the films. Her backstory and how she rose to power is fascinating. Born into a primitive society on a small island on a planet mostly covered by water, Phasma is discovered by the First Order’s General Brendol Hux, who’s impressed by her ruthlessness and fighting skills. She joins the First Order and quickly moves up the ranks, then eventually betrays Brendol by conspiring with his son, Armitage Hux, to assassinate him. Her apparent death in The Last Jedi was never satisfactory to me, I would happily watch a series based on Phasma, especially if the role were reprised by Gwendoline Christie. Phasma’s first comic appearance was in Poe Dameron #2, but it didn’t generate much notice, partly I feel because this character was so sidelined.

Okay, that’s my list! Feel free to let me know who you would like to see a live action version of!

Angela “LaLa” Rairden is an avid fan of comic books, Star Wars, and most things nerdy. A cosplayer, she loves to attend comic cons dressed as her favorite fictional characters, particularly Harley Quinn. Although her day job is at a grocery store, writing has always been her true calling. She lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she is currently writing her first novel.