Like most everybody else in the world, I adoredStar Wars: The Force Awakens(henceforthTFA)—and not just the story or the effects, but thecharacters. In fact, I’d go so far to say the characters were the most successful part aboutJ.J. Abrams' vision for a galaxy far, far away.Rey,Finn,Kylo Ren,BB-8, even the underutilizedPoe Dameron, were all fully formed the minute they hit the screen.
But let’s face it, not all the new characters were winners. With about a dozen main players in the mix, a few were bound to be duds, or at least “needs improvement.” Fortunately, almost all the named characters inEpisode VIIare likely to return forStar Wars: EpisodeVIII, which gives them plenty of time to make their mark on the franchise yet. So let’s take a closer look at some of the characters who need to step up their game in the nextStar Warschapter…
General Hux
At first glance,General Huxhas all the makings of a classicStar Warsbaddie: slick outfit, posh British accent, bitchin' sideburns – it’s also no secret that the character is inspired by the notoriousGrand Moff Tarkin. And yet, Hux doesn’t even come close to the awesomeness of that character.
Don’t get me wrong, it has nothing to do with the performers.Domnhall Gleesonmay not have the same name recognition asPeter Cushingdid whenStar Warsfirst came out, but he’s still a very talented actor. (WatchEx Machinaand the underratedAbout Timefor proof.) So why is Tarkin a belovedStar Warsvillain and Hux is the last action figure kids want to find under their Christmas tree?
Take the destruction of Alderaan. InEpisode IV, Tarkin seizes the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: test out the Death Star’s destructive power, and coaxPrincess Leiainto giving him the location of the rebel base. Obviously the tactic works, and Leia gives Tarkin the answer he seeks (albeit a false one). But here’s the kicker –Tarkin proceeds with the demonstration anyway, and even though we’ve never seen Alderaan or any of its inhabitants, we still feel the weight of its destruction becauseLeiafeels it. In that moment, Tarkin proves just how ruthless he is, not because he destroyed a planet, but because he destroyed a planeton a whim, to spite one measly princess.
Now look at Hux’s crowning achievement: destroyingmultipleplanets at once – which automatically makes him cooler than Tarkin, right? Eh, not really. The problem with Hux’s arc is that it lacks an emotional crux. Instead of grounding his storyline in character conflict, Hux has to literallyyellat the camera to feign excitement onscreen – and even then we’re not sure if it’s being playing for laughs or not, which results in one of the most tonally bizarre scenes of the movie. I mean, okay, we do get a glimpse of some Republic senators looking up in horror as a giant laser heads right for them. But before you may say, “Wait, is that the chick fromThe Originals?” – BOOM! – they’re all dead, and you don’t really know why or care.
Here’s a more direct example. In the final stretch ofA New Hope, when the X-Wings are about to destroy the Death Star, Tarkin acknowledges the danger by saying, “Evacuate? In our moment of triumph? I think you overestimate their chances.” Meanwhile, what does Hux do in a similar situation inTFA?Dude has already abandoned ship. When we cut back to the control room on Starkiller Base, Hux isn’t even there. All we see is a random First Order technician running away shouting, “We won’t survive – even Hux has gone!”
The good news is, Hux lived to fight another day, but if he wants to earn the reputation of fearsome general he’s going to have to dosomethingto make him more interesting, otherwise it won’t have been worth it. At this point, Hux lacks depth or even broad appeal. Heck, he doesn’t even have that sweet-looking armorCaptain Phasmahas.
Speaking of whom…
Captain Phasma
Captain Phasma had a lot of hype going intoThe Force Awakens, probably more than any other character in the film. In addition to being the first major female villain inStar Wars(well,you know what I mean), she was also portrayed by the oh-so popularGame of ThronesactressGwendoline Christie. That’s not to mention Phasma herself, who arguably had the coolest costume in the film, and a kick-ass golden rifle to match. Basically, she wasLed Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” incarnate.
To be fair, Abrams tried to curb expectations by telling fans her role was very small – and, surprise, he wasn’t kidding. After all the exposure she got in marketing and merchandise, Phasma did almostnothingof consequence in the film and had fewer than a dozen lines. (I thinkSimon Pegg’s junk dealerUnkar Plutthad roughly the same amount of screen time.) It didn’t help that Christie voiced the character like she was a robot.
However, both Phasma and Hux feed into a larger problem, which is they’re too similar to each other. In writing fiction, there’s an old trick called a “composite character,” which is simply combining the traits of two or more characters into one. This is usually done to streamline the story and, more often than not, makes a character more interesting. Imagine if, instead of a greasy bureaucrat, Hux was a chrome-armored female soldier whoalsobutted heads with Kylo Ren. And rather than barking out orders from the safety of a Star Destroyer, she put her boots on the ground and settled business her own way. Doesn’t that sound like a way better character than either Hux or Phasma on their own?
If you don’t like that, there was an even simpler fix for Phasma – so simple, in fact, you’ll wonder why it wasn’t like this from the start – and it all lies in a single, arbitrary character: FN-2199, better known as “TR-8R,” the stormtrooper that launched a thousand memes. Seriously, this character’s popularity was only outdone by his sheer randomness in the narrative. (Yes, I know his backstory says he was one of Finn’s buddies in the FN Corps, but that’s never referenced in the film.) Why this characterisn’tPhasma is mind-boggling. Not only would it have given her asingle reason to existin the movie, but it would have strengthened her dynamic with Finn. Granted, she couldn’t have been shot down the way TR-8R was on Takodona, but that would have been easy enough to rewrite.
Luckily –miraculously– Phasma somehow survived her unceremonious defeat on Starkiller Base, as evidenced by Christie’s name on theEpisode VIIIcast list. And while Phasma’s escape from the trash compactor sounds like fertile ground for a future comic book, I seriously hope her rivalry with Finn continues in the next installment – maybe even outside the First Order’s command, straight bounty hunter-style. I guess we’ll see.
Maz Kanata
These next two have less to do with their place in the story (though there’s some of that too) and more to do with their technical execution. Believe it or not,Maz Kanatawas originally going to be a puppet inTFA, but due to time constraints and the desire to maximizeLupita Nyong’o’s performance, the crew decided to go with motion-capture for Maz.
Frankly, this seems a little suspect, given that Lucasfilm had time to create over100 practical creaturesfor the production. There’s also the fact that Maz doesn’t really do that much in the film, at least not physically. Yes, there was a deleted scene that showed her using “not Force powers but totally Force powers” to collapse a ceiling on a bunch of stormtroopers. (Personally, I’m glad that scene didn’t make the final cut.) But other than that, she pretty much just sat around her castle – certainly nothing more exerting than whatYodadid inThe Empire Strikes Back.
And that’s where Maz’s role inTFAstarts to get iffy. Early on – way before we even knew what Maz looked like – Nyong’o’s character was described as a diminutive pirate-turned-bartender whose castle was a safe haven for smugglers and riffraff. Which wastrue, but that certainly painted a different picture than the Maz we got in the finished film. Rather than the seedy, swashbuckling type one tends to think of when they hear “pirate,” Maz was a friendly but quirky sage who offered advice and knew all about the Force.
Sound familiar?
Yes, Maz Kanata was the clear Yoda figure ofTFA, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. After all,Star Warsis all about rhyming and drawing from classic character archetypes. But wouldn’t it have been a little more interesting if Maz had been anuneasy allyinstead? The type that if Han Solo said the wrong thing Maz could snap her fingers and every one of her patrons would turn their blasters on him? Again, we get a glimpse of Maz’s pirate past later in the movie when Rey finds Luke’s lightsaber in a treasure chest of other forgotten booty. Still, the biggest takeaway from Maz is, “I am no Jedi, but I know the Force.” She’s seen the rise and fall of the Empire, the conflict between Jedi and Sith – heck, she’s even older than Yoda was when he passed away inReturn of the Jedi. For a whole new generation of fans, she’s literally the one who explains the Force to the audience, just likeObi-Wandid in the originalStar Wars.
As such, it’s a little disappointing that Maz so closely adheres to the Jedi paradigm when she herself is just a retired pirate with a serious Force hobby. ForEpisode VIII, it would be nice if we saw more of her buccaneer traits come out, especially now thatLukeis stepping in to be therealYoda of the operation.
Supreme Leader Snoke
Now, let’s talk about theothermotion-capture character inTFA,Supreme Leader Snoke. Not unlike Maz, the series' new big bad went through a long design process before becoming a computer-generated model. Early concepts ranged from female aliens to a Lincoln Memorial-esque stone statue. But even after Snoke’s design was approved, the film’s creature team toyed with the idea of using exterior means to puppet the character onscreen.
To Lucasfilm’s credit, Snoke may very well have a more physical role in future episodes. Presumably,someone’sgot to fight him down the line. Also, that big, poofy cloak he wears concealed most of his body, which is much more skeletal and deformed than the film lets on. However, it would have been nice to get a better look at Snoke in histrue form– if only his damaged face, which, again, was mostly obscured by dim lighting. But I think most fans would agree that having Snoke look slightly more humanoid withAndy Serkisin makeup would have been preferable to the Gollum 2.0 we got inTFA.
As for Snoke’s role in the story, it’s hard to judge. The character only appears in a handful of scenes –as a hologram, no less – leaving us to wonder just how tall he really is. For all we know, he could look entirely different in person. Of course, right now it’s hardnotto draw comparisons toEmperor Palpatine, as we’ve only ever seen Snoke as a ghostly figure in black robes sitting on a throne of omniscience. But more than any of the other characters on this list, I’m confident we’ll see what Snoke is really made of inEpisode VIII, if notIX. I just hope the mo-cap is justified in later installments.
The Knights of Ren
Blink and you’ll miss ‘em, but Snoke’s Dark Side organization theKnights of Rendid make a brief appearance in Rey’s vision inTFA. They were the guys standing behind Kylo Ren in the rain, presumably at the siege of Luke’s Jedi academy. But considering how much we heard about them in the lead-up toEpisode VII, we still know next to nothing about the Knights of Ren other than they’re “not Sith.”
Obviously, there are only so many characters you may introduce in one movie, and I have faith we’ll see more of the Knights of Ren inEpisode VIII. Suffice to say, if they’re are working for Snoke, they’re probably total badasses. Which is why, when we got our first glimpse of them in the secondTFAtrailer, I thought for sure they were theRaidguys dressed in masks and cloaks. After all, what better characters for them to play than Kylo’s personal task force? Alas, their martial arts expertise was wasted on the pitiful Kanjiklub, who didn’t even get to throw a punch before they were devoured by Rathtars.
My suggestion forEpisode VIII(assuming it’s not too late)?Re-castthose guys as the Knights of Ren and give them the jaw-dropping fight scenes they all deserve. God knowsStar Warsloves casting its actors in multiple roles. Just askWarwick Davis.
Luke Skywalker
Okay, this one’s kind of a cheat since Luke is not original toThe Force Awakens, but I think the character has changed enough in 30 years that he’s worth mentioning here. I know some fans were disappointed by Luke’s silent, minute-long cameo at the very end of the film, but I believe his character did exactly what he was supposed to do. The opening crawl spells it out: “Luke Skywalker has vanished.” He’s a MacGuffin. A plot device. The desired object, or motivator. We were never going to see him for very long in the film, if at all. (I still think Disney could have kept him off the cast list and saved him as a surprise inTFA’s final moments.)
That said, ifEpisode VIIwasHan Solo’s movie, thenEpisode VIIIis almost definitely Luke’s. Like I said earlier, Luke is destined to be the new Yoda – a mentor to the fledgling Force-user. I also wouldn’t be surprised if we saw him cross lightsabers with Kylo Ren at some point, or go toe to toe with Snoke in an epic Force battle. The possibilities are endless. The point is, Luke is only just getting started, and even though his role inTFAwas minuscule, it was also crucial to the end of the film. And, in this writer’s opinion, it also gave us one of the most powerful scenes in all ofStar Wars.
[Note: This article was originally published on a previous date, but in an effort to highlight Collider’s continuing original content, has been bumped up to the front page.]
