Let’s face it, not everyone in the galaxy can or wants to be a Jedi — that’s part of what makes them special. While our attention is turned toward Star Wars movies and their major players, like Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, there are countless other characters on many other worlds making a difference in their small part of the galaxy. We love Star Wars for its epic stories and range of characters, but we don’t always get to take the time to stop and appreciate some of those smaller roles. Especially since there is more media (cartoons, TV series, comic books, and novels to name a few) beyond just the Star Wars movies than most people have time for.
Updated January 2nd, 2022: This article has been updated with more Star Wars characters and additional details following the release of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor.
Some of the best people often get overlooked, and Star Wars is no exception to that. The opportunity to look at events or places we love in the Star Wars timeline from a new perspective is what makes blockbusters like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Disney +’s The Mandalorian successful. Character studies are both a fun way to dive deeper into the franchise and impress other Star Wars junkies. Series like Andor and The Book of Boba Fett has given spotlights to lesser-known characters. Here are the ten most underrated Star Wars characters.
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10 Wedge Antilles
20th Century Fox
Wedge Antilles is one of the most important side characters from the original trilogy that most people probably don’t register at first. He appears in all three installments of the original trilogy. Wedge and Luke were the only two from the red squadron to survive blowing up the first Death Star.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Wedge survived the battle of Hoth and became Red Leader during the assault on the second Death Star. He later reappeared during the battle of Exogol helping the Resistance fight the fleet of the Final Order. The character’s origins were also fleshed out in Star Wars: Rebels showing how he was recruited from the Imperial Flight Academy to join the Rebel Alliance.
9 Bail Organa
Princess Leia’s adopted father, Bail Organa, possesses all the same diplomacy and dedication as his daughter. He was a founding member of the Rebel Alliance and worked closely with Padme Amidala in the senate. While his role in Attack of the Clones is a glorified cameo, the character has a major role in the underrated film Revenge of the Sith. The character also appeared in both Rogue One and Obi-Wan Kenobi, showing how important of a figure he was to the early years of the Rebel Alliance. He sadly dies after his home planet of Alderaan is destroyed but his legacy lives on in his daughter and the fight against the Empire.
8 Hera Syndulla
Disney-ABC Domestic Television
Hera Syndulla is one of the best characters to come out of Disney’s Star Wars Rebels. She was the first member of her crew to join the fight against The Empire. She isn’t one for hand-to-hand combat, but she is a great pilot and gunner and a great tactical leader. She and her team fought against Grand Admiral Thrawn (more on him later) at the height of his power. Her motherly affection for her crew makes them strong enough to face any enemy.
Hera’s origins were expanded upon in The Bad Batch, showing how she began her fight against The Empire. Rumors have circulated that Mary Elizbeth Winstead will star as Hera in Ahoska, which already is set to feature the live-action debut of Sabin Wren and Ezra Bridger.
7 K-2SO
Disney
If R2D2 could talk, he probably wouldn’t be as sassy as this droid. K-2SO was an Imperial security protocol droid that has been reprogrammed by the Rebel Alliance. K-2SO is in the service of Cassian Andor and helps the Rebellion steal the Death Star plans as seen in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Many were expectingK-2SO to appear on Andor, yet while an Imperial security protocol droid was shown the sarcastic droid did not make an appearance. With Andor season 2 set to cover the four years between Andor season 1 and Rogue One, it is likely he will show up again and audiences will get to enjoy a bit more time with the breakout droid characters whose time was cut short.
6 Bo Katan
Bo Katan Kryze’s voice always carried a lot of weight as the younger sister to Satine Kryze, duchess of Mandalore. Even though her political affiliations changed as she matured, Bo Katan has always done what she thought was best for her people. She worked with Ahsoka Tano to defeat Maul and worked to repair and rebuild Mandalore for most of her life thereafter. She also teamed up with the Mandalorian to help save Grogu (Baby Yoda) more than once.
Bo Katan has a unique character arc full of political intrigue and betrayal. She even wielded the dark saber for a time and lead Mandalore, yet sometime between the events of Star Wars: Rebels and The Mandalorian she lost the weapon. More of her backstory is expected to be explored in The Mandalorian season 3.
5 Asajj Ventress
Lucasfilm
Asajj Ventress is one of the most iconic Star Wars villains to never appear in any of the films or live-action media. Originating in the 2D Star Wars: Clone Wars series, she was brought over into the canon stories as Count Dooku’s apprentice in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but never became a true Sith Lord. Unfortunately, the rule of two didn’t allow for that. She regularly faced off against Ahsoka and Anakin and proved to be a valuable asset to the separatists during the Clone Wars. However, Ventress’s life took a turn when Palpatine grew uneasy about her amounting power and ordered Dooku to prove his loyalty by executing her. She became a bounty hunter and teamed up with many Jedi for influential missions.
Her final Clone Wars story arc was told in the pages of Dark Disciples, which featured her falling in love with Jedi master Quinlan Vos. Ventress dies in the story and while it sadly appears she will never appear in live-action, she is a major player in many important stories during the Clone Wars.
4 Sabine Wren
In a franchise filled with great Mandalorian characters like Din Djarrin, Boba Fett, and Bo-Katan it is difficult to stand out but within minutes of her first appearance, Sabine Wren immediately made an impression. A member of a long Mandalorian dynasty, Sabine Wren was recruited into the Empire and built weapons she believed would be used for peace, but they instead were used against her family and her people forcing her to leave her planet in disgust for what she had done and quickly joined the rebels.
Sabine Wren is a complex character, bound by honor to her family and her people and filled with incredible guilt, while also having an incredibly brilliant mind that is expressed with both science and art. She is a graffiti artist and one of her forms of rebellion is defacing Imperial sites with her art, very much inspired by political graffiti art. Sabine Wren’s artwork eventually become the symbol for the Rebel Alliance, making her part of the most important symbols in the Star Wars galaxy.
3 Plo Koon
Ever Since Dave Filoni praised Plo Koon, the character has received much more attention. The Jedi master doesn’t play a starring role in any of the movies as he is mainly a background Jedi, but Filoni’s love for the character has made him a bigger presence in recent years across the comic books and Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Plo Koon served as the Jedi General during the Clone Wars. He found fan-favorite Ahsoka Tano as a youngling and brought her to the Jedi temple, and the two remained good friends throughout her Jedi training as she made major changes. He is known for being kind but stubborn, his strict adherence to the rules surely providing an alternate example for Ahsoka, whose master (Anakin Skywalker) typically liked to live on the edge. Plo Koon’s unique look easily makes him a stand-out character for audiences, and thanks to Dave Filoni this background Jedi now has a defined personality and place in the prequel era.
2 Rose Tico
Rose Tico was one of the best additions to the Star Wars franchise, offering the everyday common person perspective on the fight against The First Order that Han Solo provided in the original trilogy. Rose was a simple mechanic from a poor mining planet, who alongside her sister joined the Resistance because they believed in the fight for freedom. It is Rose’s heart that teaches Finn to go from just looking out for himself to fighting for a good cause, and proves herself a great addition to the franchise.
After a major role in The Last Jedi, she was sidelined in The Rise of Skywalker. While it does not appear to be done with malicious intent and there is no proof J.J. Abrams or Lucasfilm reduced her role to appease the audience members who sent racist messages to star Kelly Marie Tran, it was still a bad look and one that felt like a missed opportunity to expand her character.
1 Thrawn
Fans of the Timothy Zahn Star Wars books know Thrawn as an unparalleled tactician. Like many other Chiss, Thrawn is incredibly intelligent and adept at war strategy. In Star Wars Legends he posed a grave threat to the galaxy after the fall of the empire. However, in the new canon, Thrawn served as a Grand Admiral at the height of the empire’s power. He showed off against Ezra Bridger, Hera Syndulla, and their team in Star Wars: Rebels. After being teased in The Mandalorian, Thrawn is set to be a major character in Ahsoka. According to an exclusive report, Lars Mikkelsen has been cast to reprise his role of Thrawn after voicing him on Star Wars: Rebels. Thrawn may not remain on this “unappreciated” list for too much longer.
