If you want more ‘Star Wars’ ...
... we offer 5 characters who deserve spinoffs.
Everybody’s going to have a Star Wars film soon — even those shady dudes at the Mos Eisley cantina. (Come on, who doesn’t want a Greedo prequel?) ❚ Solo: A Star Wars Story and other anthology projects like Rogue One are digging into the past of the galaxy far, far away: On deck is an Obi-Wan Kenobi movie in development with director Stephen Daldry, not to mention Rian Johnson’s upcoming movie series, a trilogy from the Game of Thrones guys, and the ongoing Skywalker saga. Heck, maybe even young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) gets his own series, considering how Solo ends. (If there’s a Star Wars movie to be had, Disney is almost certainly going to green-light it.) ❚ But we probably should be a bit picky in choosing who gets their own flick. Here are five characters who deserve a spinoff sooner rather than later:
Lando Calrissian
Although we’d rather not see any more movies set before the first Star Wars — five of the 10 thus far take place before Darth Vader famously powerwalks into George Lucas’ 1977 opening scene — it seems Donald Glover’s überpopularity could demand his own Lando film. That could come as part of the Han series, maybe a Star Wars version of The Sting where he teams up with a fellow gambler, or something more politically driven that leads to him becoming the main man of Cloud City (as seen in The Empire Strikes Back). Hey, we’re down with whatever gets him in a groovy new cape.
Poe Dameron
Star Wars has long needed its own Top Gun, a vehicle that focuses on those rebellious flyboys and flygirls in X-wings taking on the Empire (or First Order) in epic dogfights. Poe (as played by Oscar Isaac) would be a great subject for such a film, perhaps going back to Republic flight school and showing how the hotshot pilot got his wings. And if Poe is Maverick, he’s going to need a frenemy Iceman — space volleyball optional.
Boba Fett
The very cool bounty hunter of the original trilogy got a backstory in the prequels, thus losing some of his mystery. A solo movie wouldn’t do any favors to what’s left of his mystique, unless you went the Predator or Terminator route: The movie’s main characters could be folks who’ve gotten on Jabba the Hutt’s bad side and have a price on their heads, and Fett is the silent killer looking to collect.
Dr. Aphra
Not all the cool characters come from the movies: Comic books have introduced this fan-favorite bad-girl archaeologist who works for Vader but has teamed up with Luke Skywalker (when it suited her needs, naturally). She’s got vibes of both Han and Luke, with a Wookiee and villainous versions of C-3PO and R2D2, her “murder bots,” as part of her crew. Aphra also would give Lucasfilm a chance to boost diversity with an adventurous femalefronted Star Wars film.
Captain Phasma
The original prequels tracked how the ruthless Empire was born, and after The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, we’re still waiting to figure out what spawned its successor, the First Order. An origin story for one of its most powerful figures could dig into that, plus explore the lengths a woman in the universe (played by Gwendoline Christie) would have to go to to rise so far in a male-dominated organization and wear the helmet of a force that wants to rule the entire cosmos with an iron hand.