Move over Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re not the show we’re looking for. These are five Star Wars characters who deserve their own show.
The Skywalker Saga may have ended – for better or worse – but the Star Wars train has only sped up and we think that out there there are a number of Star Wars characters who deserve their own show.
Aside from the current crop of Disney+ Star Wars shows, there are several upcoming five others in the works; Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, Ahsoka, The Acolyte, and Lando. There was a sixth, Rangers of the New Republic, but Cara Dune (from The Mandalorian) is now assumed to have died on the way back to her home planet.*
That’s great news for Star Wars fans, assuming Disney doesn’t double the cost of Disney+ to cover the upcoming Star Wars TV shows’ collective budgets. But, while we’re all curious to see what Ahsoka did next, it’s not just the franchise’s A and B-listers (or in Boba Fett’s case, a character who was unexpectedly embraced by the fandom) that are worthy of attention.
There are several “lesser” individuals who could offer a different take on the Star Wars universe, whether that’s delving into the darker corners of the galaxy or offering a new perspective on a familiar situation. To that end, we’ve picked out five Star Wars characters who deserve their own show. If you’ve watched all the Star Wars movies in chronological order, do you agree with our list or are there some other stand-out characters who deserve more screen time?
*There are actually rumors that Cara Dune might be recast after Gina Carano was let go, but until we hear something more concrete, we’re assuming this one is dead in the water.
1. Cobb Vanth (The Mandalorian)
You don’t need to know about Cobb Vanth’s history – in fact, if you’ve not read the Aftermath novels (where he’s first introduced), his mystique elevates his character, not unlike the Mandalorian himself. What makes him such a spin-off worthy character, aside from Timothy Olyphant’s performance, is the role he’s chosen to embrace.
He’s the lone instrument of justice in Mos Pelgo/Freetown, a former mining town that the rest of Tatooine has all but forgotten. Stripped of “his” former armor, he’s a few blaster shots away from being a corpse. The place he protects is so remote that, if the bantha fodder hits the fan, no-one’s riding to the rescue, and yet he’s chosen to stay.
A Cobb Vanth series could take the space western aspects of The Mandalorian and dial them up to eleven with the added bonus that, since it would take place largely on the desert planet of Tatooine, the budget wouldn’t break the bank.
2. Tag and Bink (Tag & Bink Were Here)
Technically this is two characters, but Tag Greenley and Bink Otauna, who first appeared in a pre-Disney series of Star Wars comics, are all but inseparable. They’re also massively incompetent and horrifically unlucky, having managed to entangle themselves in a host of significant Star Wars scenes.
When Anakin Skywalker was sweet-talking Padme Amidala on Naboo, a youngling Tag and Bink were hiding behind a wall, feeding him lines. It wasn’t really Boba Fett who flew screaming into the Sarlacc’s maw, it was Tag in Boba’s “borrowed” costume. Those two Stormtroopers who banged their head in the original cut of Star Wars? That was Tag, or maybe Bink.
Penned by Kevin Rubio, creator of Troops, their tongue-in-cheek adventures were non-canon even before Disney took over. But the (non-Lego) Star Wars universe is sorely in need of skewering and a Tag and Bink series could do for the franchise what M.O.D.O.K. did for the Marvel Universe.
3. Grand Admiral Thrawn (Star Wars: Rebels)
Admiral Thrawn was one of the few characters to survive the Disney Star Wars expanded universe purge, which just goes to show you how cool he is. Created by Timothy Zahn for a trilogy of post-Return of the Jedi stories, Mitth’raw’nuruodo aka Thrawn was a master strategist who took the reins of the leaderless Galactic Empire. Disney closed the book on those stories, assigning them non-canon “Legends” status, but the character was resurrected for Star Wars Rebels.
What makes him worthy of his own series is he’s such a joy to watch. He’s cool and collected in a way that Darth Vader is not and is capable of outthinking most foes without taking his few defeats personally. One of the stand-out moments in the original Thrawn trilogy was when he promoted a gunner for an innovative but failed attempt to capture Luke Skywalker. Vader, on the other hand, would have choked him to death.
Ahsoka Tano, guest-starring in The Mandalorian, confirms that he’s still alive, though she seems determined to change that. We’d love to see whether, as in Legends, he ended up picking up the ruins of the Empire.
4. Qi’ra (Solo: A Star Wars Story)
Qi’ra is by far the most interesting thing about Solo: A Star Wars Story (see how it fairs on our Star Wars movies ranked, worst to best list). We didn’t need to know how Han Solo met Chewbacca, or how he got his last name, but watching Qi’ra murder her way to power (which may have been more than a spur of the moment decision) is almost worth the price of admission.
When Darth Maul expires (as seen in Star Wars: Rebels), she becomes the de-facto leader of crime syndicate Crimson Dawn. She eventually makes the decision to take on the Empire, as seen in the ongoing Star Wars: Crimson Dawn comic. You just know it’s not going to end well.
But how did she go from killing her boss in Solo to gaining the loyalty and obedience of her underlings? We’d love a series that explored how she cemented her power, to the point where people were willing to risk the wrath of Emperor Palpatine and his bucket-headed enforcer.
5. Dexter Jettster (Attack of the Clones)
No, we’re not pulling your leg. Yes, the owner of Attack of the Clones’ galactic greasy spoon wasn’t on screen for long, but Boba Fett got his own series and he was around for all of five minutes. The fact Dexter was able to identify Obi-Wan’s mysterious dart shows he’s a man with a past, but that’s not the only reason he deserves his own show.
Dexter, despite his likely history, could offer an everyman’s perspective on the rise of the Empire. Sure, we’ve seen Clones going to war, Jedi being gunned down on the orders of a melted Michael Myers mask, and so on, but Star Wars rarely explores how the average Hoe on Coruscant reacts.
Dex’s Diner would be the perfect window into a world under the Imperial jackboot – think Cheers mixed with Star Wars. Plus, we’re pretty confident that Dex and his diner would make one of the best Lego Star Wars sets you’ve ever seen.
Would Dexter stand idly by while the Empire continued to exert its influence? Maybe, by day, he’d be explaining why his food was 12% alien butt hair, but at night he’d be smuggling the few remaining Jedi off-world. Who knows, perhaps a certain small green youngling might have passed through his hands.