It has been almost 50 years since George Lucas first took us to a galaxy far, far away. In that time, the Star Wars universe has introduced several characters who have wormed their way into the fandom’s hearts. Your favorite may be a furry Wookie or a sarcastic droid. Every era has its hotshot pilot or villain (or three) with a British accent. With Star Wars showing no signs of slowing down, it’s clear that more unforgettable characters will soon debut in the sci-fi franchise. But for now, let’s focus on the ones we already know and love.
These are the 50 Greatest Star Wars Characters of All Time.
10. Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams & Donald Glover)
“What’s cooler than cool?” asks Outkast in their song “Hey ya.” The answer in the song is “ice cold,” but I would answer “Lando Calrissian.” Smooth like Jazz, cool like ice, oozing charm like… Okay, I’m out of good similes. The point is, Lando was always the most charismatic man in the room, and I was never more disappointed in a character than when it turned out he’d given up his buddy Han and friend to the not-so-tender mercies of the Empire. And never happier with one than when he organizes a rebellion and escape. We never really got enough of that character on screen, but he’s got a thousand different stories in the Expanded Universe.
Billy Dee Williams was absolutely the man to bring this epitome of awesome to life, but I was delighted to find that Donald Glover also captured every smooth move and charismatic twinkle in the Solo (2018) film. No offense to Alden Ehrenreich and the other cast members of that movie, but I would much rather have seen an entire film devoted to Glover’s version of the Bespin Baron. The rumor is that we might just be getting that, and I’ll absolutely be there to see it on opening night.
–Bob Cram
9. Darth Maul (Ray Park & Sam Witwer)
Oh man, Darth Maul. In the lead-up to 1999’s The Phantom Menace, Star Wars fandom was in a state of nearly incandescent hype. It had been more than fifteen years since the last Star Wars movie (don’t come at me about the Ewok Adventures), and we were chomping at the bit. Add to it the marketing material showing this sinister, devil-like visage, and everyone was dying to see more.
While on screen, Maul didn’t let us down. Played by the incomparable Ray Park and voiced by Peter Sarafinowicz, he was a new kind of Sith: a ninja with a lightsaber – and a double-bladed one at that! His acrobatics and high-speed martial arts were sheer cinematic gold. A Zabrack, Maul was born on Dathomir to the Nightsisters, and his destiny seemed fixed from the beginning. In their dark fold, he harbored a simmering anger that eventually caught the attention of Darth Sidious. The then Supreme Chancellor took the teenager under his wing and trained him in the ways of the Dark Side. Eventually he would earn the title of Darth, and become a true Sith.
While he was seemingly killed at the end of Menace, Darth Maul pops up again in the Clone Wars, where he’s voiced by Sam Witwer. Maul continues a story filled with darkness, betrayal, hatred, and manipulation throughout the Clone Wars. He even rises to lead the Crimson Dawn, a crime syndicate with a reputation for savagery. He crosses paths with many luminaries of this list, before his final confrontation with Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine. In another nod to the cinematic DNA of Star Wars, their final duel is akin to the epic showdowns of samurai classics and western favorites. The bout is quick, efficient, and a master class in “show, don’t tell” storytelling.
A complicated figure, but one primarily driven by vengeance, Maul dies in Kenobi’s arms, comforted by the fact that Luke Skywalker will grow up to tear down the order the Sith had built.
–Jeff Cram
8. R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) & C-3PO (Anthony Daniels)
Because I saw them so young, R2-D2 & C-3PO informed all my experiences of on-screen duos. Bert and Ernie? Based on R2 and Threepio. The Odd Couple? Samesies. Mulder & Scully? You get the idea. While none of that is true, the solid (state) friendship of two robots (sorry, Droids) through thick and thin, despite their conflicting personalities, resonated with me as a kid AND an adult. I even found myself wondering sometimes – am I the R2 in this relationship, or the Threepio?
While their expanded backgrounds as constructs of (in Threepio’s case) and friends with Anakin Skywalker gave me pause, it only enriched their friendship. While SOME people fell to the dark side, these guys stuck together through thick and thin and too many battles to count. They’re survivors, and I fully expect to find them in Star Wars stories fifty years from now, getting on each other’s nerves and standing by each other when it counts. Friend goals indeed.
–Bob Cram
7. Boba Fett (Jeremy Bulloch and Temuera Morrison)
Sure Boba Fett’s first appearance was in the god awful Star Wars Holiday Special, but the best part of that whole shitty special was the animated short that gave our first glimpse at the mysterious bounty hunter. The thing I love about Boba Fett was the fact that he was just there, barely saying a word and looking menacing as hell. You knew not to fuck with him, just by Darth Vader telling “no disintegrations”. I mean really?!?! Who the fuck does that? Anyway, growing up he was always one of my faves. I just loved the badass helmet, his armor with that cool skull painted on it.
–K. Alvarez
6. Yoda (Frank Oz)
I was primed for this by the Muppet Show. To care about a damn puppet. To look to it for wisdom and grace and tips on using psychic powers. Yoda was the most badass part of a badass movie, back when he was just in The Empire Strikes Back. Dude stealing food and talking to Force ghosts like it was his everyday, which it probably was. The younger, somehow even more badass version of Yoda from the prequel films cemented his place at the head of my personal Jedi pantheon. Yoda, Obi-Wan, Luke, Darth Vader and Grogu. Yes I put a bad guy in there. He’s awesome. Just not as awesome as Yoda.
–Bob Cram
5. Obi-Wan “Ben” Kenobi (Alec Guinness & Ewan McGregor)
My dad loves to tell me stories about his grandfather. My dad was a city boy, and his father passed away when he was still a boy. He’d go to the country to visit his grandparents, and he would inevitably learn all kinds of things from his grandfather like how to shoot a shotgun and bird and squirrel hunt, how to drive, how to play pool, etc. As a boy, my dad’s grandfather would give him a shotgun and turn him loose in the woods behind their house, and he would disappear for hours with a deadly weapon. But every time my dad described his grandfather, he made him sound like the most loving, patient, and kindly old man you’d ever want to meet. The kind of man who could teach you how to do hard things, but then also share a soda with you while playing checkers for hours on end.
That is how Obi-Wan Kenobi read to me as a child. A grandfatherly figure that you could trust. A man who is harmless and caring, but then deadly and dangerous when the time calls for it. But to talk to him, to look at him, you would never know that all of that danger was lurking deep inside.
Although I don’t think Ewan McGregor manages to rise above the level of the material quite as well as Liam Neeson does as Qui-Gon, I do think he embodies the best traits of the character as portrayed by Alec Guinness. And it’s kind of a miracle and a testament to his portrayal of the character that a fussy old guy like me who generally dislikes the prequels actually considers his turn as Obi-Wan to be as much a part of who the character is as Guinness’s contributions.
Regardless of who is portraying him, Obi-Wan is a character full of depth and complexity and humor and danger all mixed together–like a kindly but capable grandpa–and that is what makes him one of the most beloved and enduring characters in Star Wars.
–William Dhalgren
4. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill)
Luke Skywalker may not have Han Solo’s charm or swagger. He may not be great with the ladies or quick with a witty line. But he is relatable. Especially to boys. While Han may represent the end goal of most boys–to be confident, competent, and cool–Luke’s arc over the course of the three original films is the roadmap of how to get there.
When we meet Luke, he’s at the beginning of that journey. And while he may not read as cool as Han does in the original Star Wars, we get to see him progress a little toward that goal by the end of that film. By the time we meet him in Return of the Jedi, he’s made the full arc from nerdy farm boy to worldly warrior. It’s the journey we all hoped to make as boys. And Luke, for us, is proof that the journey is possible, that the Hans and Landos of the world don’t always spring forth fully formed at birth. Luke represents the hope that if we work hard, don’t give up, don’t give in, don’t shirk the challenges thrown our way, and keep our faith in the bigger things we can’t explain, we, too can get there.
–William Dhalgren
3. Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher)
Princess, Senator, General, badass. Leia was probably the first time I saw, as a kid, a female character who was just so clearly better at being a hero than any of the guys. Saving the plans, standing up to Darth freakin’ Vader, shooting chump stormtroopers and giving out sass like it was… I dunno. Sass-giving-out day. For a while it seemed like the movies were just going to let her be defined by her relationships to the male characters, girlfriend of Solo, brother of Skywalker. Or her outfits. At least she got to strangle Jabba. If nothing else, the sequel trilogy gave her her due, leading the resistance, using the Force when it suited her, and mentoring a new generation of heroes, despite her personal tragedies. Diplomat, spy, fighter, leader, and lover, Lei is everything everyone should aspire to be.
–Bob Cram
2. Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader (Various)
Like Emperor Palpatine, so much of what makes Darth Vader interesting is what we don’t know about him. In the original films, he’s mostly a menacing, nearly all-powerful figure that Luke has to somehow stop in order for the Rebellion to win and the Empire to be destroyed. It’s tempting to point to Ralph McQuarrie’s design for the character as the main reason for his impact on the pop culture, but in reality Darth Vader is simply one of those rare perfect storms of a blend of great ideas and great inputs. He’s a combination of the voice of James Earl Jones, the dog-faced mask, the red saber, the menacing, mysterious breathing sound, and John Williams’ music. He’s the strange, disfigured creature we catch a glimpse of in The Empire Strikes Back as he is coming out of his hyperbaric chamber. And somehow he’s the hero who saves his son’s life by hurling Palpatine down a ventilation shaft and he’s also the pathetic old man we see wheezing on the floor of the second Death Star just before he becomes one with the force.
And all of those traits are more than enough for Darth Vader to have made a lasting impression on the culture, but the cherry on top is his arc from ultimate pop culture villain to a redeemed father who sacrifices his life to save his son’s.
Chef’s kiss.
–William Dhalgren
1. Han Solo (Harrison Ford & Alden Ehrenreich)
When you think of the most iconic Star Wars characters, I’m going to bet Han Solo is almost always first in mind. He’s certainly one of the most beloved anti-heroes in film history, thanks to his sarcastic wit, charm, and transformation from self-serving smuggler to being a key leader in the Rebel Alliance. When I first watched Star Wars, I distinctly remember preferring Han Solo over all of the others. He was the most compelling person to me, and certainly the most entertaining of the bunch. Han’s relationships with those around him – his bond with Chewbacca, slow-burning romance with Princess Leia, and unlikely friendship with Luke – created a multi-layered hero, albeit a reluctant one. He’s one of the best examples of how a character can grow without losing any swagger, and it’s not too hard to see why he became a fan favorite. I’m not entirely sure I’ll ever get over his ultimate fate, but he’ll forever be a timeless symbol of redemption within the Star Wars universe.
–Romona Comet
20-11 | Top 100 MCU Characters
Which Star Wars do you think should have made the Top 50? Drop them down in the comments below because you never know when we might be planning on doing a Star Wars theme month (*cough May 2027 cough*)!