Though the spaceships, aliens and lightsabers were cool and very ahead of their time. The reason we fell in love with Star Wars and keep coming back over and over is the characters. The farm boy who knows he’s meant for something more. The princess who rebels against the Empire. The smuggler who can’t let anyone know he’s actually one of the good guys. The idea that Darth Vader used to be Anakin Skywalker, a great Jedi Knight trained by Obi-Wan, but now leads the Empire is fascinating. It is these characters who drew us into this universe and made us want to live in it.
When Disney announced they were bringing back a new Star Wars trilogy, we wondered who would be the new generation of heroes and villains battling for control of the galaxy. Disney had big shoes to fill, as Luke, Leia and Han are the plucky trio all others are based on. However, the studio knocked it out of the park with some of their new characters, creating people we love just as much as our favorites. Unfortunately, there were also some misses. No Jar Jar level mistakes, but still some misses. Here we examine the best and worst Star Wars characters Disney has introduced to the universe.
15 BEST: FINN
In 41 years we’ve never really imagined that stormtroopers had lives. In the prequels we learned that they were clones, so it finally made sense why they were so obedient. In the new films, they are children who’ve been stolen and raised since birth to believe in the First Order. On his first mission Finn has the strength to reject this and defects.
Given the opportunity, he joins the Resistance and completes the mission of his first real friend Poe. Yes, he’s trying to impress a girl, but in the end he does the right thing and comes back to fight the bad guys. Through two films we’ve watched him mature into a real hero, willing to make sacrifices to save the galaxy from the destruction of the First Order. It’s absolutely John Boyega’s likeability that drew us in, but it’s Finn’s continued growth that keeps us coming back.
14 WORST: POE DAMERON
Yes, Poe Dameron is absolutely one of the best heroes of the resistance. However, if we’re being completely honest, he made some major mistakes in The Last Jedi. In The Force Awakens he was a onenote hero type. Flew into the rescue, then led the big bombing run against Starkiller base. The Last Jedi was his big chance to develop.
Unfortunately, after a hilarious opening scene, things went downhill from there. He was so arrogant and short sighted he ignored his experienced general and led the entire bombing group into a massacre. As if that wasn’t enough, he then proceeded to launch a mutiny that ruined the well laid plan of another commanding officer. In the movie, he’s not only a terrible leader, but also a terrible soldier. The good news is, he seemed to learn his lesson and may mature for Episode IX.
13 BEST: K-2SO
One of the hallmarks of the Star Wars universe is its ability to make robots into fully formed, individual characters. No two droids are the same. They must also complement their human counterparts. Luke Skywalker would be nothing without R2-D2. In Rogue One, we are introduced to K-2SO, an Imperial droid that’s been reprogrammed to work for Cassian Andor and the Rebel Alliance.
Thanks to the spectacular work of Alan Tudyk and the special effects crew, he’s so hilarious, he steals every scene he’s in. Since this film was about a mission we knew no one was coming back from, it needed some light moments and K-2SO provided all of those. When it was time for his big death scene, we found ourselves crying real tears for a robot.
12 WORST: CASSIAN ANDOR
When you’re the bad boy pilot, who’s a secret rebel spy, you lead the mission to steal the Death Star plans, are played by Diego Luna and still get outshined by a robot, your character has problems. The issue with Cassian is that there was no real connection between him and the audience.
Honestly, all we really know about him is that he’s a great officer. At every turn he’s reluctant to go the extra mile until Jyn makes him. It’s true Rogue One is Jyn Erso’s story, but that doesn’t mean Cassian doesn’t need any character development. Bodhi, Chirrut, Baze all had more interesting arcs than him. We understand the film only had a limited amount of time to fit a lot in, but we would’ve appreciated something to make him a little less generic and stale.
11 BEST: MAZ KANATA
During the 41-year journey through this universe we’ve met a lot of cool aliens. Very few have been more mysterious and interesting than Maz Kanata. She’s a former pirate and smuggler who’s lived for a thousand years. She has unknown mystical connections that keep her attuned to The Force. Though she clearly has no love for the First Order, she also has no problem associating with some of the galaxy’s less reputable characters.
Maz is the kind of alien you could spend all day with listening to her stories about crazy adventures. She feels like everyone’s favorite wise, older aunt. She’s knows everyone and has been around for so long, she’s destined to be seen in all corners of the Star Wars universe, which means we’ll get to know her in small does across different platforms.
10 WORST: KYLO REN
Let’s start with the obvious. Kylo Ren is a horrible force user. Perhaps he’s not as strong as the rest of the Skywalker line? Or maybe it’s his lack of solid training? Either way, he’s just not that good with the force. All we’ve really seen him do is move things and use a lightsaber. He has no control over the little power he has, letting his emotions rule him. Seriously, tantrums with your lightsaber!? Not even the youngest padawans pull that nonsense.
He had a tough fight against Finn, a regular guy, then he got beat by new force user Rey. Later, he was embarrassingly outsmarted by Luke in front of all his troops, because he couldn’t see past his rage. It’s true Anakin had trouble controlling his emotions, but at least he had the skills to get him out of the messes he created.
9 BEST: ADMIRAL HOLDO
When news broke that Laura Dern would be joining The Last Jedi as a Resistance officer who clashes with Leia, fans weren’t sure what to expect. What they got was another empowering female character taking control of the fleet. Her confidence in her abilities and loyalty to the cause made her feel like a natural successor to General Organa. It turned out she learned from the best, as she was a protege of Leia’s.
Even in the face of Poe mounting a mutiny and constantly questioning her command, she stayed the course and never wavered. Sadly, when the time came she didn’t hesitate to make the ultimate sacrifice to ensure the Resistance continued on without her. Her loss came just when we were getting to know her, and when the Resistance needs her most, which makes it even more tragic.
8 WORST: DJ
One thing every Star Wars movie has to have is a smuggler with questionable ethics who we can’t help but love. When we heard that Benicio Del Toro was playing the mysterious DJ in The Last Jedi, we wondered if producers were trying to give us a new Han Solo. We met him in a jail in Canto Bight and while he had that charming pirate swag, there was something immediately shady about him.
It’s not like we expected to instantly fall in love with him, but we could definitely never feel too safe about Finn and Rose trusting him. He was way too smug about being able to break into Snoke’s ship. He was also very onenote. There wasn’t anything about him to hold our interest and make us wonder what was underneath all that charm, that he was laying on way too thick.
7 BEST: BB-8
Since The Force Awakens takes place 30 years after Return of the Jedi, it’s completely reasonable that astromech droids would’ve updated from the old R2 units. BB-8 is Poe Dameron’s adorable robot best friend. From the moment he rolls on screen it is love at first sight.
What makes BB-8 such a great character is that the audience understands its emotions and motivations at all times, and that’s not something we can always say about human characters. When it thinks Poe is dead, it’s sad, it gets scared during the air battle on Jakku and is overjoyed to see Poe again. BB-8 is the fan’s ridiculously cute guide through the movie. Not to mention its unique design means we must have all the BB-8 merchandise.
6 WORST: GENERAL HUX
Here’s the thing about Hux, he’s been so emasculated and humiliated that his men will never respect him. He keeps trying to make big plans to move up the corporate ladder and his superiors constantly knock him down. He’s basically the Dwight Schrute of the First Order. If he weren’t such an evil weasel, we might feel sorry for him.
He doesn’t carry the same weight as Grand Moff Tarkin or other Imperial officers. Plus, Domhnall Gleeson spends most of his time on screen screaming. In The Force Awakens, it feels like he’s just yelling all the time, and at this point he’s become the comedy relief of the First Order. There’s no way someone like General Leia would ever be intimidated by a nobody like him.
5 BEST: CAPTAIN PHASMA
Anyone who’s ever cosplayed as a stormtrooper can tell you that it’s nearly impossible to show emotion in the armor. That all changed with Gwendoline Christie’s Captain Phasma. Not only is she in charge of the stormtroopers, she’s a woman. So even in the evil First Order women can run things.
We don’t learn much about her in the movies, but in the comic books and novels that accompany them, we find out Phasma has had an interesting journey to get to her position. She lied and killed her way up the ranks of the First Order and has never looked back. These other stories have showed us that she, not Hux, should’ve been commanding the entire army. Though she was shown falling into an explosion in The Last Jedi, Phasma is resourceful enough that we may not have seen the last of her.
4 WORST: ORSON KRENNIC
For years we’ve wondered what kind of mind would come up with the idea of a Death Star that destroys entire planets. It had to be some sort of evil scientific genius. Turns out it was just some government bureaucrat who wanted to take credit for someone else’s work. Orson Krennic had his own ambitious designs of moving up the ladder of the Empire by using the work of Galen Erso. He, of course, didn’t account for Erso’s conscience getting the best of him.
While he is put forth as the major villain of Rogue One, there’s never anything remotely fearful about him. He really has no power, as Vader and Tarkin both remind him, and when the time comes they don’t even think twice about killing him alongside the rebels on Scarif. All in all, there’s nothing memorable or interesting about Krennic.
3 BEST: ROSE
Without question the breakout star of The Last Jedi was Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico. The plucky Resistance engineer was basically a fan who had been dropped in the middle of the movies. She was enamored with Finn and instantly jumped into an adventure to save the fleet.
Rose is still idealistic and believes with all her heart that the Resistance will win the war. When we meet her, she says she has stopped multiple defectors throughout the day. Her openness is something we haven’t really seen since we met a young farm boy on Tatooine. Her genuine spirit even helped remind Finn of why he left the First Order and joined the good guys. Tran’s real world excitement to be a part of the franchise easily translates into Rose, making fans want her as their new best friend too.
2 WORST: SNOKE
Snoke is meant to be the successor to Emperor Palpatine. He is the Supreme Leader of the First Order and Kylo Ren’s master in the Dark Side of the Force. Unlike Palpatine who we saw move up the political ranks and enact his carefully constructed plan, we know nothing about Snoke and his connection to the Force. This mystery launched thousands of fan theories about his origin and real identity.
We didn’t learn everything we were hoping in The Last Jedi, but we did get to see that he was very powerful with the Force, but clearly not as powerful as Palpatine. Considering how Kylo Ren betrayed and killed him to save Rey, we have to wonder at this point does his history matter? When compared against Darth Vader or Palpatine, Snoke’s impact doesn’t quite resonate.
1 BEST: REY
While technically Kylo Ren isn't Leia and Han’s son, Rey is really the perfect combination of Princess Leia and Han Solo. She’s lived on her own for years with only her independent spirit and quick wit to help her survive. Like Padme and Leia before her, she’s definitely not a damsel in distress.
She’s also a brilliant pilot who speaks Wookie and knows how to hot wire machines. These qualities led many fans to immediately speculate that she actually was their long lost daughter. Rey doesn’t need to come from a special lineage to be awesome, she does that all on her own with her self reliance and belief in doing the right thing. It was great for fans to see the franchise continue its history of delivering strong female heroes who aren't sitting around waiting to be rescued.