It has almost been 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.
50. The Bounty Hunters from The Empire Strikes Back (Dengar, IG-88, Bossk, 4-LOM & Zuckuss)
This shot alone is one of the coolest visuals in Star Wars. You just see this group of badass-looking bounty Hunters lined up, and you knew someone was in big trouble. Sure, we never get to see any of them (besides Boba Fett) in full effect in any of the live action movies but god damn this was just cool to see on screen anyway. It’s the things like this that drew me to a galaxy far, far away in the first place. Cool visuals with out over explaining or watering down things. Ahhh, the 70s and 80s were a simpler time.
–K. Alvarez
49. Jek Tono Porkins (William Hootkins)
Ah, Porkins, gone but never forgotten. Originally a trader, he joined the Rebel Alliance after the Empire’s influence started to grow over his planet. He participated in the Battle of Scarif, engaging the Star Destroyers and Tie Fighters while Rogue One stole the Death Star plans. He’s most well-known for his role in the Battle of Yavin, where he and other Rebel pilots, including Luke Skywalker, attacked the first Death Star. Sadly, he was one of the many casualties of this fight, but his legacy lives on, being mentioned in several of the franchise’s written works and even having a flight maneuver named after him (Porkins Belly Run). I love Porkins, and you should too.
–Valerie Morreale
48. Salacious B. Crumb (Tim Rose & Mark Dodson)
When you’re a galactic crime lord, you need a good team around you. You’ve gotta have some muscle, a knowledgeable translator droid, an entertaining band can’t hurt, and you’ve gotta have a reliable court jester. The great Jabba the Hutt found the latter in the Kowakian monkey-lizard, Salacious B. Crumb.
Fans were introduced to this hilarious and disturbing little oddity in Return of the Jedi (1983). Usually cradled in the curl of Jabba’s tail, the diminutive monstrosity served to entertain the crime boss, (on pain of death), laugh at his jokes, and maybe police some unsightly body slime here and there. Look, it’s a tough gig, but in exchange for hanging on to your favorite life, a monkey-lizard’s gotta do what a monkey-lizard’s gotta do!
What makes this Crumb, (not his comic-creator namesake, R. Crumb), memorable is his design and movements. Built by Tony McVey, Crumb was animated by puppeteer Tim Rose. These talents combined were enough to create a solid background character, but it was the shrill chattering and raunchy laughter voiced by Mark Dodson that put the cherry on top of this sleazy sundae.
Alas, fifteen minutes of fame were all that was to be in store for this malicious muppet. While crafty, and not above a little random violence (here’s lookin’ at you, Threepio!), his antics ended abruptly when Jabba’s sail barge went up like a roman candle.
–Jeff Cram
47. Dash Rendar
Stop me if this character sounds familiar…
Corellian born. Ace pilot. Quick with a blaster, and an even quicker wit. Joins the Imperial Naval Academy on Carida. Shows great promise, but ends up kicked out and takes up the life of a smuggler. He has a sweet ship, a bizarre co-pilot, and gets wrapped up in the fight against the Empire, eventually teaming up with Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa.
If you were thinking of Han Solo, I don’t blame you. But, no, I’m talking about that OTHER Corellian smuggler and star jockey, Dash Rendar.
Originally created as part of the multimedia event Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (1996), Dash was quite literally a stand-in for Han Solo while that wise-cracking gunfighter was frozen in carbonite. The story takes place between Empire and Jedi, and there was a hole to fill. There’s not much here, honestly. Take Han Solo, file the serial numbers off, make him less likable, and you’ve got Dash. Oh sure, his YT-2400, The Outrider, had a neat, if derivative design (earning it a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance above Mos Eisley in the Special Edition of Star Wars: A New Hope), and he’s not an offensively bad character.
But, as my mom would say, we have Han Solo at home.
–Jeff Cram
46. Cal Kestis (Cameron Monaghan)
Introduced to us through a video game, Cal Kestis is a fan favorite from Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor (2019 and 2023, respectively). While not the most dynamically interesting character on his own, like all video game protagonists, he benefits from the player injecting a bit of themselves into the role.
We first meet Cal while he’s working as a scrapper of capital ships on the industrial world of Bracca. His days are filled with a mix of danger, drudgery, and exhaustion. He has a friend in Prauf, and the two of them take on risky work whenever the credits are good. Cal might be a little more physically gifted than a lot of guys his age, but he doesn’t stand out in a galaxy of trillions.
This is, of course, by design. Cal’s hiding a secret – that he was once a Jedi. In order to escape the Emperor’s Purge, he buried this identity, and turned away from his connection to the Force. This story begins to be revealed when he has to use the Force to save Prauf during an accident, which in turn, draws the ire of the Inquisition. This touches off a grand adventure.
As viewpoint characters go, he’s got what you’re looking for. Brave, clever, kind-hearted, and competent, we get to see him grow as we play through the game. He also has a talent in the Force, which sets him apart from others we’re familiar with: psychometry, or what he calls Force Echo. It’s a fun and useful ability that allows Cal to get a sense of people and events from the past in objects associated with them. He merely needs to touch said item and open himself up to the echoes.
Cal provides a great chance for us to explore what it would look like to have begun to train as a Jedi, with that amazing life opening up before us, only to have it snatched away in the most traumatic way possible. His story takes us on that ride, as well as the climb up out of despair to a greater destiny, by embracing who he really is. There’s probably a lesson there.
–Jeff Cram
45. Wicket W. Warrick (Warwick Davis)
Wait a minute, isn’t Wicket just one of the Ewoks? Yes, but he is the most important one! Introduced in Return of the Jedi, he is a scout and warrior among the Ewoks on Endor and the one who leads Princess Leia to the Ewok Village on the planet. Was he created just to sell toys? Maybe, but their initial interaction is pretty adorable. Wicket is at first afraid of Leia and hides from her until she offers him some food. It’s only once Leia saves Wicket from the Imperial troops shooting at them moments later that he begins to trust her.
The other Ewoks have captured Luke and other members of the Alliance (and made C-3PO their god, but that’s another story), but it’s Leia’s relationship with Wicket that saves the captured crew and creates the alliance between the Rebels and the Ewoks before the battle of Endor. Plus, I like to think he is a crucial part of Yub Nub, and I will never forgive George Lucas for removing it.
–Valerie Morreale
44. Finn (John Boyega)
Very few things got the Star Wars fandom going nuts than that first glimpse of a Stormtrooper actually taking off his helmet. Stormtroopers have a history of being the butt of many jokes, often for their insignificance and inability to hit a target. But seeing one front and center as an important character in the saga was intriguing and certainly a good omen of things to come… right? Finn’s journey is one rooted in the desire to find one’s identity. His choice to defect from the First Order is what sets off the events that forever change the galaxy. To me, one of the things that really defines the trilogy sequels is the developing friendship between Finn and Poe, as it’s Finn who saves Poe from Kylo Ren, and it’s Poe who is able to fly them to safety… sort of. When the two reunite, they become an unstoppable force. The disappointing aspect of the films was that while Finn’s Force-sensitivity was hinted at, it was never fully explored. Discovering a former Stormtrooper is actually a Jedi is a wild concept that Disney should have gone with, instead of relegating a character with so much potential to a supporting role. It’s really a shame, because Finn’s growth as a Jedi could have made the sequels so much better than they were.
–Romona Comet
43. Captain Rex (Dee Bradley Baker)
The clones in Star Wars always come off as tragic figures to me. Created to wage war for sinister reasons, mind-controlled to betray those they’d served loyally, and finally discarded when no longer needed — they just got the short end of the stick. Ostensibly identical in form and destiny, some still managed to distinguish themselves and rise above what the Emperor had in mind for them.
One such clone was Rex. An Advanced Recon Commando, or ARC Trooper, Rex stood out from his standard clone brothers at the start. He was given more advanced armor and gear, more dangerous missions, and eventually, more responsibility.
Rising to the rank of Captain to serve under Jedi General Anakin Skywalker, Rex was as stalwart a soldier as one could ask for. Loyal, resolute, and incredibly competent, what really made him an exceptional officer and fan-favorite character was his compassion for the men who served under him. He treated each of his brothers with respect and understanding, and was loath to throw away their lives for anything less than critical objectives.
It was this compassion, and a bad experience with the traitor Jedi General Pong Krell, which caused Rex to go from a ‘good soldier’ who trusted the system, to doubting those in power. After the suspicious death of one of his brothers, Fives, Rex uncovered a hidden menace which led to Order 66 – secret chips implanted in the brains of all the clones that would override their loyalty to the Jedi and make them into assassins.
After going into hiding with Ahsoka Tano, Rex helps the fledgling Rebel Alliance get its footing and continues to oppose the tyranny of the Empire through the Battle of Endor. Not too shabby for someone who was created to be a disposable grunt.
–Jeff Cram
42. Galen Marek / Starkiller (Sam Witwer)
Look, I’m not gonna lie; I don’t care for Starkiller, even if he gets his codename from Lucas’ original surname for Luke Skywalker. Starkiller was introduced in the 2008 video game The Force Unleashed. The son of two Jedi, Galen Marek becomes orphaned by, and then a secret apprentice to, Darth Vader and helps the Dark Lord of the Sith execute the Purge.
I’ll admit that part of the issue I have with this character is the game for which he was created. The intent by the designers was to allow players to live out what it would be like to toss the Force around like a comic book superhero. Unfortunately, it ends up asking us to believe there was this character that was as powerful as the Emperor, able to take both him and Vader on and win (if only to sacrifice himself at the last moment), and nobody in the Star Wars media we’ve seen or read has heard of the guy.
I’m always a little wary of what I think of as the Force Arms Race. In an effort to capture audience attention, creators ascribe more and more insane abilities to Force-users. I get it, but I feel like it loses a bit of the mystical charm the Original Trilogy lends it. I realize that I’m also just old.
There is the shadow of a good story here; a boy corrupted by evil, forced to challenge his assumptions and the conditioning he’s grown comfortable with. I’m always a sucker for lost souls taking a shot at redemption. Maybe I’m too hard on Starkiller.
That and, (to quote Ash Williams), maybe I’m a Chinese jet pilot.
–Jeff Cram
41. K-2SO (Alan Tudyk)
Ah, K-2SO – the droid who is taking none of your shit right now. Introduced in Rogue One and voiced by the legendary Alan Tudyk, K-2SO is an Imperial droid hacked and reprogrammed by Cassian Andor, an Alliance intelligence officer and one of the key players in getting the Death Star plans to the Alliance. He has a lanky tower form, one that makes his constant quips and sass to his Alliance cohorts even more funny. Though his role in the Star Wars saga is brief compared to others on this list, it’s his sacrifice that ultimately makes sure that Jyn Erso and the rest of the Rogue One crew are able to steal the plans for the Death Star, and sets forth the mission in Episode 4. RIP to a real one.
–Valerie Morreale
Star Wars Movies Ranked | 40-31
Who are some of your favorite Star Wars characters? Where do you think they’ll rank on the list?