These shows expanded on the franchise, animation not bound by having to have photorealistic effects or makeup, nor by being limited to an established core of characters or basic plots. While the idea of animated Star Wars characters going live-action isn’t new (Boba Fett himself started as an animated short on the Star Wars Holiday Special, for example), and The Mandalorian has made the jump on several (Ahsoka Tano and the whole Dark Saber subplot), there are some other great minor characters that would make the live-action universe that much richer.
A bounty hunter who worked with Cad Bane on some pretty big missions—Count Dooku once hired the pair to fake-kidnap Palpatine and the whole thing went sideways when it turned out the third guy, Rako Hardeen, turned out to be Obi-Wan Kenobi in disguise. When he ended up in the galactic hoosegow for his shenanigans, Moralo Eval got cozy with Boba Fett and Bossk, too.
A ready-made wackadoo who talks in the third person, he’s already the Shemp in the Star Wars universe’s gaggle of bounty hunting weirdos, never the star but surrounded by all the brighter lights. And now that Cad Bane himself has been brought into the Boba Fett fold, and a new Obi-Wan series is coming out, it feels strange to leave this guy out of the fold. Boba Fett could always use a new adversary in his second season, or this guy could pop up and make Obi-Wan’s life hectic for a bit.
A Jango Jumper (something that here means acrobatic), Cassie Cryar worked as a thief in the Coruscant underworld during the Clone Wars. She once managed to rip off Ahsoka’s lightsaber from her, and made it a piece of work getting it back since her natural Terrellian agility gave her borderline Jedi-like powers of maneuverability.
Thinking of the blank slate a character like that provides, plus the fact that she’s a thief instead of another bounty hunter, opens up a whole slate of possibilities for the character. She’s sassy, smart, and unencumbered by lore.
Five Force sensitive sisters who exist between the realm of the Cosmic and Living Force on the wellspring planet, aka the unnamed home where all the Midichlorians come from. These characters help decide who, in the greater Star Wars universe, get to retain themselves after passing on or get recycled into the force itself. This is the type of metaphysical aspect of Star Wars that the live-action entries have only touched on the bare edges, but never delved into with any depth.
Meeting these lovely ladies, even if they’d make for poor action figures, could open up the franchise to exploring the seeming contradictory and capricious nature of the Force itself. It could also give answers to why there’s seemingly so many ways a person can go when they pass onward.
Just break down the weirdness by character. In Qui-Gon Jinn’s case, he retained himself as just a voice, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Luke, and Leia (for some reason) were able to come back as Force ghosts, Anakin Skywalker came back young instead of elderly, and someone as evil as Palpatine was able to pass into another body at all considering the second Death Star was obliterated seconds after he was thrown to his death. Exploring the trippy mechanics of all this could make for some mind-bending Star Wars television.
A disillusioned Imperial who became a spy for the Rebellion, Zare is also a character of color, and bringing him and his story into the live-action side of Star Wars could give the franchise the plotline they kinda-sorta half-crammed into Finn’s arc in The Rise of the Skywalker but in a hugely ham-fisted way. The idea of someone coming up within the Empire and coming to despise it for its brutality is the type of material that’s rife with dramatic potential if done right, but so far all Star Wars has done with the premise is smother it beneath a larger story of Rey and Kylo smooching.
This would be a way, out from under the baggage of being a mainline part of the Skywalker saga, that the story could have room to breathe and a character like Leonis given time to become fully fleshed out (and not just because he’d be live). Rogue One’s Galen Erso would be proud there were others within the Empire who were sticking it to them, hard and possibly sideways, in the name or restoring right to the greater galaxy.
This Twi’lek male from Ryloth is one of the lowkey baddest dudes in the Clone Wars and Rebels series. The guy started out opposing the corruption he saw in their senator Orn Free Taa (the big chunky monkey Twi’lek seen behind Bail Organa after Amidala is almost assassinated in Episode 2) who went on to engineer a trap to take out both Darths Vader and Sidious for killing his lieutenant, Pok. Sure, it didn’t work, but how many characters in Star Wars can anyone name that even tried something so hardcore?
After his wife gets killed when the Republic falls and the Empire takes over, he tries to free Ryloth from Imperial control. He has a rift with his daughter Hera, a prominent member of the early Rebel Alliance, who thinks helping the bigger cause will help all the smaller ones like her home planet’s. Despite this, he helps her steal an Imperial carrier to house Rebel starfighters.
He then goes onto to take on Grand Admiral Thrawn, with the help of his daughter, as the pair try to retrieve their family Kalokori (a sort of Twi’lek totem). This is Cassian Andor with Lekku (head tails), a kickass warrior in the post-Republic era that has cajones the size of casaba melons, who counts shutting down hyperdrives and attacking Star Destroyers as things he does before breakfast. A show about this guy, who reads like the Star Wars version of a Chuck Norris-meme, would rock fans’ socks off.
More: Star Wars: 5 Animated Series Characters That Should Make the Switch To Live Action
