The Best Star Wars Characters, Ranked
The Best Star Wars Characters, Ranked
It actually took a team of scientists to calculate how many characters there are in all of Star Wars. The answer: 21,647. But that was as of 2016, so there are probably at least 1,000 more today. And over more than four decades we've grown to love or hate them all. We grew up with them. We cried over their deaths. Laughed at their jokes. Turned them into memes. Idolized them. Despised them. There's a Star Wars character for all of us, and they mean something different to every fan. But they're not all created equal. Here we rank the 40 best Star Wars characters throughout every live action film, TV show, comic, video game and more—from silly little trashcan droids to our iconic heroes and villains.
40. MSE-6 Repair Droid
Also known as the mouse droid or sometimes the toaster droid, its brief appearances always draws laughs and all he does is roll and chirp.
39. Ben Quadinaros
His podracer has four engines, that’s why there’s “quad” in his name. He barely does anything in the movies, but he’s great in the Star Wars: Racer video games.
38. Plo Koon
In the video games, he had a yellow lightsaber. And despite being a Jedi, he always needed an oxygen thing on his face. What’s not to love?
37. Baby Yoda
Baby Yoda might eventually go the way of the milkshake duck, but until then? Enjoy the snuggles.
35. Mon Mothma
Before we had General Leia there was Mon Mothma, the leader of the Rebel Alliance.
34. Mando
The Mandalorian in the The Mandalorian, Mando is a lone-wolf mercenary with a big heart--he’s got a thing for protecting farmers, children, and, of course, Baby Yoda. He’s turning out to be one of the most complex characters in the Star Wars Universe--partially because we’ve gotten to know him more intimately than most characters over an entire season of episodes.
33. Babu Frik
A skilled droidsmith and former Spice Runner along with Poe Dameron and Zorri Bliss, Babu Frik is small but has a kind of joyful positivity known as Big Frik Energy.
32. Kit Fisto
The green guy who smiles in Attack of the Clones also kicks enormous ass in the Clone Wars anime series. He deserved better.
31. Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes
Basically the Rolling Stones of A Galaxy Far, Far Away. Any party with these space rockers is immediately lit.
30. Jyn Erso
The sacrifice of Jyn Erso, and the rest of the Rogue One heroes, should not be forgotten.
29. Qui-Gon Jinn
Shame on Old Ben Kenobi for erasing Qui Gon from history by telling young Luke that his master was Yoda. We know the truth!
28. Padme Amidala
Padme was dealt a rough hand—from her awkward interactions with young Anakin in Episode I to her tragic death in Episode III. But throughout, she proved to be a strong and admirable leader and fighter. We’ll even forgive her for making Jar Jar the acting senator who gave Palpatine emergency power over the Galactic Senate.
27. C-3PO
Poor Threepio gets a lot of hate. But the guy is just doing what he was programmed to do. If you think he’s annoying or wimpy, maybe blame the guy who made him: Anakin Skywalker.
26. Poe Dameron
Poe embodies Star Wars cool—hair, quips, flight jackets. He doesn’t make for the most memorable hero of the sequel trilogy, but we could watch a whole Disney+ series of Poe bickering with BB-8.
25. Chirrut ?mwe
“I am one with the Force and the Force is with me.”
24. Grand Admiral Thrawn
The blue guy! He’s so good that even when Disney tried to remove him from the canon of the franchise, he made it back almost completely intact thanks to Dave Filoni’s Star Wars Rebels.
23. General Holdo
Amilyn Holdo’s Star Wars tenure was short-lived, yes—but Space Laura Dern is good enough to polevault the purple-haired Rebel officer halfway up this list. One might argue that the Holdo Maneuver was actually a war crime, but we like to see it as a once-in-a-million military triumph. But couldn't a droid have piloted the ship?
22. Dash Rendar
Poor Dash is no longer canon to the franchise, but his spirit lives on in the Star Wars Legends stories. A main character in the Shadows of the Empire spinoff series from the ‘90s, the smuggler had a ship called the Outrider that apparently beat the Millennium Falcon in a race. He was basically just Han Solo, but with red hair.
21. Kylo Ren
If not for the visceral acting of Adam Driver, the character of Kylo Ren would have been a disaster in any lesser performer's hands. That said, Kylo's angst made for some great meme moments. Bonus points for the sexy shirtless scene!
20. K-2SO
Everyone’s favorite reprogrammed Imperial droid is everything a Star Wars robot should be: Dry-witted, motor-mouthed, and an absolute brick house of a machine who you wouldn’t want to point a blaster at.
19. Finn
Finn brought nuance and depth to the depraved tactics of the Empire and First Order as a young boy who was deprogrammed and forced to fight as a stormtrooper. Plus, his baseball-bat-wielding approach to lightsaber combat is probably what we’d look like if we had to do it ourselves.
18. Admiral Ackbar
The meme-ing of Admiral Ackbar sometimes overshadows the fact that he was a great military mind and key leader in the Rebel Alliance. The guy knows how to sniff out a trap. But the ultimate irony is that he died being caught in a trap by the First Order in The Last Jedi. RIP.
17. BB-8
The sequel trilogy’s sassy little sparkplug, BB-8, gave us some delightful moments these past few years—squaring up against R2-D2 and wielding his little pocket lighter like a champ.
16. Wicket
Mr. Wicket W. Warrick: Champion, fighter, pain in the ass. YUB NUB.
15. Wedge Antilles
The best pilot in the Rebel fleet made a surprise cameo at the end of Rise of Skywalker, helping his horny old buddy Lando take down some Final Order TIEs in the Millennium Falcon. It’s good to know he still kicks ass.
14. Sheev Palpatine
Old Sheev just loves to laugh. And we love him for it. Despite all his evil deeds, you’ve got to respect a dude who enjoys a good cackle. But does he fuck?
11. L3-37
Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s woke droid is perhaps one of the most important in the franchise for both illustrating the importance of droid rights and becoming the famed navigation system in the Millennium Falcon.
9. Boba Fett
Yeah, Boba Fett dies like a chump. But he looked cool as hell while doing it.
8. Obi-Wan Kenobi
The heat and sands of Tatooine aged Ben Kenobi horribly in the 19 years between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. But, the guy did his job. He kept Luke safe, and in the end sacrificed himself to be the teacher that young Skywalker needed. Sure, he could have told Luke the truth, and maybe not diminished the contributions of Qui-Gon Jinn, but the guy had really seen some shit.
7. R2-D2
Everybody loves the foul-mouthed little droid who speaks in only bleeps and bloops. How many times did R2 save the day? Sure, that might have been because he was an unreliable narrator of this story. But we adore him anyway.
6. Lando Calrissian
Some of Lando’s comments toward Leia definitely don’t age well when watched in 2019. But we cannot understate the importance of Billy Dee Williams appearing as a cool and complex character in Empire Strikes Back. It’s great to see him back fighting for our heroes in The Rise of Skywalker, because after 82 years, the guy is still the coolest character in the Star Wars universe.
4. Yoda
To be fair, Yoda made a lot of mistakes in the prequel trilogy. He stupidly missed the rise of Palpatine and the turn of Anakin Skywalker. “Meditate on this, I will.” No, guy. Maybe actually do something. But we should give him a little bit of a break. He was pushing 900 years old. Mistakes aside, it worked out for Yoda in the end. He trained Luke, and later, as a Force ghost, helped Luke save the Resistance. Through all of that, we still love Yoda. His funny way of speaking, his silly little ears, his possible child.
3. Darth Vader
Sure, he’s revealed to be some gross old white guy in Return of the Jedi despite James Earl Jones’s legendary voice acting. And yes, Hayden Christensen’s performance as Anakin in Episode II is cringeworthy. But Darth Vader remains the most iconic villain in movie history. Period.
Harrison Ford Came Up With Han's Most Famous Line
Han Solo's most famous line wasn't planned at all. The original script called for this exchange before Han's descent into the carbonite chamber:
Leia: ... I love you. I couldn't tell you before, but it's true.
Han: ...just remember that, 'cause I'll be back.
After a conversation with director Irvin Kershner, Harrison Ford delivered the "I Know" line and solidified this emotional moment into cinematic history.
1. Leia Organa
Our princess, our general. Without Leia the Rebellion would have been lost long before two droids found that whiny teenager on a random moisture farm on Tatooine. Despite her noble upbringing, she used her influence to fight for good. She stood up to Darth Vader and the leaders of the Empire to their faces. She risked torture, she risked death. She was played with equal parts wit and toughness by the unparalleled Carrie Fisher. She saved Luke’s ass on separate occasions (and if Luke had failed Obi-Wan and Yoda were more than happy to train her as a Jedi—which they should have done to begin with). Then in the sequel trilogy, now known as General Leia Organa, she’s a proven tactician, a brilliant military leader who holds the Resistance together against almost certain failure. Without her there is no hope, there is only darkness.
From stupid little trashcan droids to the most iconic heroes and villains in film.