15 Star Wars Characters That Deserve Their Own Movies Or Shows

Once again, Cassian Andor has proved that knowing how the story ends doesn't change the fact that we can learn a lot from the rest of a character's life. Kanan Jarrus, once a Padawan named Caleb Dume, has an ending — if not a firm one. "Star Wars Rebels" turns this reluctant Jedi's last years into those of a tragic hero. Some piece of him seems to remain behind, though, as a white Loth-wolf guiding his love, Hera, and his pupil, Ezra Bridger. Yet, he's also a kid who saw his Jedi Master go down swinging on the day of Order 66.

There's a lot of territory between those years, and while "Obi-Wan Kenobi" showed us the life of a beaten-down master, we know that Kanan had a much spicier life. His Marvel comic miniseries, "Kanan," by early "Rebels" producer Greg Weisman, shows a glimpse of how this refugee turned into an underworld shadow, and "A New Dawn" by John Jackson Miller can be mined for more details. I can't say I'd be unhappy to see even more of Kanan's life, especially the days when he met the friends he'd willingly die for.

Tony Gilroy has uncovered a lust for the grittiest parts of "Star Wars." "Rogue One" is a space-age "The Dirty Dozen," with a finale that hews brutally close to the reality of what takes to win a war. "Andor" is just as cold in places, reminding us that freedom is worth fighting for — and killing for without hesitation. Under a fascist regime (a real one in which minorities are at constant risk of genocide to sway a population happy to lap up soothing propaganda), harsh words don't cut it.

However, Saw Gerrera understands this lesson a little too well. "The Clone Wars" gave us a look at his beginnings from humble rebel to tilted fanatic. "Rogue One" shows him in his final frenzies, but there's a great story in the middle, waiting to be told. Luthen gives us a glimpse of Saw that suggests a "Platoon”-style movie would be a violent delight: a tale of a guerrilla butcher with no mercy, loose in a world where the Rebellion is years from coalescing into more than a dream, and a man's well-earned cynicism still has a point.

It's not because Samuel L. Jackson is one of the coolest cats on the planet, although he is. It's not because we didn't get enough Mace Windu in "The Clone Wars," although we didn't. The fact is, he's got two great things to add to the "Star Wars" canon. First, Mace Windu could be our best guide behind the doors of the Jedi High Council, giving us a first-person look at the intrigues they faced in the aftermath of the High Republic.

Secondly, there's a great "Star Wars Legends" novel called "Shatterpoint," which could be retooled into a canon tale about Windu's doubts and long-buried fears. "Shatterpoint" takes Mace Windu back to his homeworld to rescue his Padawan. Mace remembers little of his childhood on a war-torn world, yet enough comes back to him to make the events he experiences there all too personal. Grim enough to satisfy Saw Gerrera, the biggest change that would have to happen is a little tweak to the ending. The person Mace Windu needs to save is essentially doomed in this "Apocalypse Now"-flavored tale, but her fate in canon doesn't actually come until the day of Order 66.

"Who is Dexter Jettster?" you ask. My friends, Dexter Jettster is arguably the best character introduced in "Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones." A hulking, frog-throated Besalisk, he's the proprietor of Dex's Diner, who, incredibly, has all the underworld intel Obi-Wan Kenobi needs to follow Jango Fett's trail to Kamino. He's also one of only two major Besalisks in canon, and since the other one is the infamously loathsome Pong Krell, let's use Dex as our Besalisk community standard here.

Not every story in "Star Wars" has to be heavy stuff. Disney XD airs animated shorts of droids showing off the cutest animals in the galaxy, and they're great. Let's have something similar on Disney+ for the older fans. I'm thinking of a series of animated shorts set in Dex's Diner — like "Cheers" but with oddball aliens and surprise cameos. Things like Hondo Ohnaka coming by for a hot tip and a Bantha meat cheesesteak. I want to see this so badly that this is a free pitch to Lucasfilm. I'm willing to sign it away to legal ... although I'd gladly take a couple of bucks if you guys are feeling generous.

Getting Donnie Yen back for a miniseries or special presentation might be too much to ask, but hey, it's worth a shot. He's already serving big Chirrut Îmwe vibes again in "John Wick 4." In "Rogue One," the blind priest, with his soothing chant of "I am one with the Force, the Force is with me," introduced us to something we hadn't thought about before: Force-sensitives who didn't train to become Jedi but instead served as members of various religious orders. The novelization of "Rogue One" goes further with Chirrut's character, identifying his order as the Guardians of the Whills, the Whills themselves being, roughly, a mysterious, sentient aspect of the Force itself.

Chirrut Îmwe has little extra canon detail, mostly found in "Galaxy's Edge" lore and a junior-level story called "Guardians of the Whills." However, it'd be far more interesting to explore Chirrut Îmwe's life before Scarif and maybe even before his relationship with Baze Malbus. That way, we could get a look at the religious side of "Star Wars" through the viewpoint of a character we only got to love for a little while.

Give the fans what they want! A fan-favorite who snuck his way back into canon, Quinlan Vos, the rakish Jedi with bad but fascinating taste in women, is still alive 10 years before the Battle of Yavin. Kenobi finds his graffiti scrawled on a safehouse wall, proving that his return to the light side after the temptations of his undercover gig has held firm. It's also possible he's since embraced Qui-Gon Jinn's greyer take on the Force.

Quinlan's escapades with Asajj Ventress and his time close to Dooku were covered in "The Clone Wars," but we have no idea how he escaped Order 66. It would be worth another look at the underground network helping Force-sensitive refugees escape the Sith Inquisitors. Quinlan Vos would be an excellent guide through that tense world. It would be a lot of fun to see if and how an older, smarter (but just as rakish) Quinlan Voss contributes to the fall of the Empire.

We used to know a fair amount about Emperor Palpatine's mentor, Darth Plagueis the Wise, when his self-titled novel by James Luceno was still canon. Back then, Hego Damask II was a Muun, the race that founded the InterGalactic Banking Clan, which itself was involved in many Clone War-era schemes. Raised secretly by his own Sith mentor, Plagueis would be the one to teach Sheev Palpatine how to become so ruthless. His infamous tragedy was caused by his fixation on immortality, a goal his dark heir would usurp.

Almost none of that is certain anymore. It's "Legends" material. All we know for sure is that he's a Muun, and he's a fun Palpatine anecdote. That's frustrating because there's no point in leaving the guy a mystery. Put him back in canon already, and tell us what's true about him. Make him a dark mirror of Qui-Gon Jinn's search for enduring beyond the physical. If, by some chance, "The Acolyte" is the start of his re-introduction, let him have his own terrible tale to tell. "The Grim Adventures of Plagueis and Sheev," let's go. Why do the Jedi get to have all the fun?

Not much of the Old Republic lore stayed canon. A handful of names have carried on, vague recollections of events exist, and the HK-47 droid line has snuck back into active production. Darth Revan, the protagonist of the original "Knights of the Old Republic," is one of those canon names. It's sneaky, but he's mentioned in the pages of "Shadows of the Sith," a novel that sheds much-needed light on some of the sequel trilogy's more confusing plot points.

An infamous lord of the Sith, Revan's story relies on the player's choices. Nevertheless, the game does have a "canon" ending. In it, Revan stands redeemed as a prodigal knight and later returns in the "Old Republic" MMO as a splintered figure who helps overthrow the Sith Emperor. To fans, he's still one of the biggest emblems of the Old Republic era, and he'd be a fantastic choice to help explore an era that sank into the shadows with the rise of a new canon. An updated adaptation of the original game is still planned, but there's a lot of Revan's story that could be explored in an Old Republic film or event.