Star Wars: 10 characters who deserve their own stand alone film

Photo Credit: Lucasfilm

6: Mara Jade – Star Wars: Heir to the Empire

Okay, so we are getting pretty close to the last-five on our list. But before we get to it, let’s talk about Mara Jade and why she deserves her own Star Wars film.

Now if you have never read any of the Star Wars novels or comics, then you are really not going to have a clue who Mara Jade is. And that’s fine by the way. I am not judging in any way, I am just pointing out that you can know Star Wars inside and out. However, if your knowledge comes from the movies and TV series, you will not know anything about her.

That is because, despite a lot of fans wanting Mara Jade to be introduced into the films and TV series, it has never happened. Not even a subtle whisper. This is a real shame because her storyline is just fascinating.

Mara Jade was first introduced in Timothy Zahn’s Star Wars: Heir to the Empire novel. Mara was trained from birth to be an Emperor’s Hand, an uber-secret organization of Force-wielders who took their orders from Emperor Palpatine.

Upon Palpatine’s death in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, he sent Mara a telepathic message ordering her to kill Luke Skywalker. She of course never succeeded in doing this, but her storyline did stay closely entwined with Luke Skywalker.

While originally growing up and learning the Dark Side of the Force, she ended up becoming a Jedi herself and rose to the ranks of Jedi Master. She fought alongside Luke on many occasions and fought on her own as well. She ultimately did a lot of good throughout the countless stories she has appeared in, despite originally being the main protagonist when she was first introduced.

Mara and Luke also ended up getting married and having a child together. This was something many fans were happy to learn about. Luke finally got some form of peace and happiness after all he had been through. Many hope this will happen eventually in the movies or TV series with Mark Hamill himself even leaning towards this idea.

How you would do this, or more importantly where you would do this in the Star Wars timeline is a difficult one. Do you set up a live action movie based on all the stories, so in-between episode VI and VII? If so, how will it end considering Luke went into exile? Or do you do it after episode VIII and do some flashbacks to fill in the gaps? And then how much of the story do you stick to?

Mara Jade’s story is a fascinating one, but how you would make it connect to the current Star Wars movies is a bit of an issue. Really the only one I can imagine working, without causing issues with the existing movies, is her time as an Emperor’s hand.