Star Wars: These Are the Female Characters We Want to See in the New Disney+ Series

Despite production on all films and TV series currently being on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, that isn’t stopping Lucasfilm from developing new projects, with a new report claiming that Russian Doll showrunner Leslye Headland is developing a series for Disney+ that is said to be female-centric. While neither Lucasfilm nor StarWars.com have confirmed the news, various reports are claiming that the series is also set to explore an uncharted timeline for the franchise, though it’s unclear if that means the series won’t run parallel to any known events or if it will potentially be jumping forward or backward by hundreds of years for an entirely new experience.

While the first live-action series, The Mandalorian, has been focusing largely on all-new characters, fans are also waiting for updates on the announced series focusing on Obi-Wan Kenobi before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope and a series focusing on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story‘s Cassian Andor. Due to how little we know about the project, it’s possible this new series will go a Mandalorian route and be in a completely new corner of the galaxy, yet there are also a number of female characters who have already appeared in the franchise that would surely be worth exploring.

Scroll down to see our picks for characters we’d love to see explored further!

Ahsoka Tano and Sabine Wren

Fans first met Ahsoka in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and met Sabine in Star Wars Rebels, with the series finale of Rebels confirming that the pair set off into the galaxy to find Ezra Bridger after the events of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. This timeline is somewhat being explored by Mandalorian, which could contradict reports that the series will take place during a different time in the galaxy. However, were the series to take the characters further forward in the timeline and closer to the events of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it would be an unexplored corner of the live-action franchise.

Adding fuel to the speculation fires of a series featuring Ahsoka or Sabine is that reports from earlier this year claim that Ahsoka will debut in Season Two of Mandalorian and will be played by Rosario Dawson, though her involvement in the series has yet to be confirmed. It’s possible that she could appear in one episode and then have her adventures continue in her own solo series.

Doctor Aphra

In 2017, Marvel debuted Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, whose titular character was an intergalactic archaeologist who fell in the grey area between the Sith and the Jedi. Doctor Aphra regularly worked with Darth Vader and the Galactic Empire, yet typically attempted to do good, despite the wishes of that organization. The character quickly became a fan favorite and marks one of the comics’ biggest successes with a totally original character who wasn’t defined by their connection to the Force or the Skywalkers.

The nature of Aphra and her various investigations brings with it a built-in episodic nature to her journeys, potentially making her the best candidate for a TV series. Her comic book series took place during the time of original trilogy of films, though a series could easily focus on her younger or older years to uncover a different point in time for the franchise, while also exploring a character who played a more neutral part of the epic conflicts seen in the films.

Rey Skywalker

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was billed as being the conclusion of the Skywalker Saga, yet it clearly marked the beginning of a new journey for Rey Skywalker. Given that she’s not a Skywalker by birth, following her future adventures wouldn’t necessarily contradict the conclusion of that Saga, as that film saw the demise of Ben Solo and closed the book on that lineage.

Were the series to follow the events of The Rise of Skywalker by any amount of time, it would be paving new ground for the territory, but given the massive confrontation she had with Palpatine in that film, it’s difficult to determine how a series could match the excitement of the sequel trilogy.

Rose Tico and Jannah

Debuting in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker respectively, Rose and Jannah earned passionate followings that would love to see their exploits continued.

Given how much her role was reduced between Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker, fans would particularly be interested in seeing Rose’s adventures in between those two films as she rose in the ranks of the Resistance, or we could also see how she coped with bringing peace to the rest of the galaxy in the wake of the defeat of the First Order. Rise of Skywalker teased that Jannah would go on a journey to discover her family after the events of that film with Lando at her side, so while we might not see both characters working together, they both have untapped potential for new adventures in their own TV series.

Padmé and Sabé

Following her appearances in the prequel trilogy of films, some fans thought they’d seen all of Padmé’s adventures, including her demise in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, but the novel Star Wars: Queen’s Shadow proved that Padmé has a number of adventures that could be explored in a TV series. Similarly, the recent Darth Vader comic book series, which takes place after the events of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, sees the Sith Lord encountering the Naboo handmaiden Sabé, with the two teaming up to seek revenge against those who led to Padmé’s demise.

A series focusing on Sabé would likely occupy the time between the prequel and original trilogies, which has been explored in Rogue One and Star Wars Rebels, but this is still roughly a two-decade period of time that wouldn’t run parallel to either of those storylines.

Amilyn Holdo and Leia Organa

Much like Rose, one character that audiences met in the sequel trilogy that many fans felt we didn’t get to spend enough time with was Amilyn Holdo, due to her sacrifice in The Last Jedi that allowed the Resistance to escape the First Order.

Star Wars fans know that no one could take the place of Leia in the series, but Holdo coming in to serve as a substitute leader when Leia was incapacitated in Last Jedi confirms just how strong of a character she was, despite audiences being largely unaware of her backstory. A series focusing on Holdo could chronicle her history as both a Rebel and a member of the Resistance, and if it were early enough in her career, we could potentially see an appearance from Leia prior to the events of A New Hope, which wouldn’t necessarily draw a direct comparison to Carrie Fisher’s iconic performance of the character.

Mara Jade

When the original trilogy of Star Wars films concluded, fans were given a number of books and comics that continued the adventures of familiar characters while also introducing a number of compelling new characters, with Mara Jade being one of the most memorable new figures in those stories.

Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm relegated those stories to the “Legends” corner of the galaxy, but many fans have been pleading to see some of those characters brought back, with a series focusing on Mara Jade possibly being the best way to incorporate the character. In her non-canonical history, Mara Jade both worked for the Emperor at various points and also went on to become a Jedi and marry Luke Skywalker, while Grand Admiral Thrawn also played a key part of her history. 

Star Wars Rebels brought back Thrawn to make him a canonical, formidable villain, so delivering a series in which Mara Jade was the key figure would not only provide audiences with a number of compelling stories, but it would also offer the opportunity to bring in other Legends figures back into the official canon.