7 Star Wars Legends Characters That Deserve to Return

In 2012, Disney purchased Lucasfilm and declared that only the six live-action films and Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series would be considered official canon moving forward, much to the dismay of devoted Star Wars fans who had enjoyed countless novels, comic books, and video games set in the galaxy far, far away. Lucasfilm Story Group member Leland Chee may have given hope to those devoted fans, as he teased some of those characters could return to canon in the near future.

Chee’s tweet was in regards to Tag and Bink, two characters who appeared in a series of Star Wars comic books, who will be featured in the upcoming Solo: A Star Wars Story.

With Star Wars Rebels, executive producer Dave Filoni brought Grand Admiral Thrawn, another Legends character, back to life, and helped inspire a passionate following, even inspiring multiple new novels.

Based on Chee’s implications, we think that these Star Wars Legends character deserve a second chance at the spotlight.

Mara Jade

A conflicted character from birth, Mara Jade was trained by an elite Imperial organization, often sent on deadly missions directly by Emperor Palpatine. One of Jade’s final missions was to kill Luke Skywalker before Palpatine was killed in Return of the Jedi, a mission which she failed.

Rather than killing Skywalker, Mara Jade developed an emotional connection with the Jedi Master, with the two going on to eventually marry. Given the events of The Last Jedi and its omission of the character, we wouldn’t expect to see the character in a future film, but seeing her in an animated or live-action series could help shed a light on the conflicted nature of many members of the Empire.

Lowbacca

To justify why Lowbacca should reemerge in some sort of canon only takes three words: Wookiee. Jedi. Knight.

The nephew of Chewbacca, incorporating Lowbacca would allow audiences to finally learn more about Chewbacca’s backstory, as we often only learn about the Wookiee’s history when translated by other characters. Admittedly, The Star Wars Holiday Special showed why it’s important to feature characters speaking English, but there are still many compelling stories to tell featuring Wookiees.

With Wookiees regularly being portrayed merely as brutes, bringing in a character who is proficient in the Force would reinvent everyone’s perception of the creatures.

Darth Revan

Revan was clearly an influence for The Force Awakens and Kylo Ren, as fans of the video game series Knights of the Old Republic instantly noticed the similarities between Kylo’s look and Revan’s.

Possibly one of the reasons that Lucasfilm will avoid Revan in the future is that the character’s overall journey mimics Darth Vader’s. Much like Vader, Revan was found by the Jedi Council and trained in his powerful abilities, only for his own moral decisions to lead him down a path to the Dark Side. Eventually, Revan embraced his inner good to re-join the Jedi and battled against the Sith.

While we shouldn’t expect to see Revan’s exact arc replicated in any medium, given its similarity to Vader’s, the character’s abilities are just too fascinating to overlook, with Lucasfilm potentially able to tweak elements of his backstory to give him an all-new fate.

Galen Marek

Another video game character, Marek finally delivered audiences something they had never seen, as his abilities in The Force Unleashed were so astronomical that he could practically rip ships out of the sky.

After the events of Revenge of the Sith, Marek was tasked with hunting down the remaining Jedi and killing them, finishing off what Vader had started in the aftermath of Order 66.

While not going to the extreme of the powers we saw in the Force Unleashed video games, the animated Star Wars Rebels did incorporate the Inquisitors, who had similar abilities and goals as Marek. The character does end up playing a major role in the creation of the Rebel Alliance, as he brought together powerful senators who opposed to Galactic Empire, making the character’s journey feel as important as the events of Rogue One.

Satele Shan

One of the most exciting elements of Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm is its push to highlight more female heroes, as the Star Wars universe is full of fascinating female characters. We hope they could continue this tradition with Satele Shan, another popular character from the Knights of the Old Republic video game series.

Mirroring the legacies of Anakin and Luke Skywalker, Satele is a descendant of Revan, eventually being regarded as one of the most accomplished Jedi in history, thanks not only to her abilities with the Force but also her military prowess.

Using a series of films to explore Revan and Stele’s various accomplishments might be too large of a commitment for Lucasfilm to make, but were we to see any adventures that specifically explore the Old Republic, we’d bet even money that Stele would make an appearance.

Darth Nihilus

Most villains in the Star Wars universe are physical beings who can potentially be bested in combat, yet Nihilus’ presence extends much further than just being a formidable foe.

Nihilus was a human, at one point, but after surviving the destruction of the Mass Shadow Generator, the character was forever changed into a being fueled by rage. Much like how we’ve seen characters become one with the Force, Nihilus became one with his armor and lightsaber, creating a villain the likes of which the Star Wars saga has never seen since.

Were the Old Republic era of the saga to be explored again, Nihilus could make the perfect foil for any number of heroes.

Jacen and Jaina Solo

With the new trilogy of films giving us Leia and Han’s child, trying to incorporate Jacen and Jaina would be a difficult task.

Jacen and Jaina represented the duality of the Force, with Jacen eventually succumbing to anger and hatred and descending to the Dark Side, whereas Jaina was able to resist the pull to train in the ways of the Jedi. Eventually, the siblings’ devotions led to an epic confrontation, with Jaina ultimately prevailing, but not before Jacen managed to kill Mara Jade Skywalker.

Lucasfilm must have known how fascinating the story of Han Solo’s offspring would be, leading to the creation of Ben Solo. While The Last Jedi solidified that Rey’s parents were “nobodies,” we can’t help but wonder if there were plans to mirror the story of Jacen and Jaina with Rey and Kylo, only for those plans to have changed.

Luckily, this gives us hope that Jacen and Jaina could re-emerge in the saga, albeit with some tweaks, in the near future.