In every Star Wars film, there’s at least one character who steals every scene they are in. Here’s one from each movie in the sequels.
The Star Wars films are chock full of memorable characters. Whether they are human, alien, or robotic, these characters have worked their way into our hearts, some more than others.
Every film in the saga has a handful of characters that are hard to forget. Whether they are just small side characters who are on screen for a brief period of time or major players whose decisions affect the fate of the galaxy, they are all remembered fondly by Star Wars fans across the globe.
In an ongoing series, we’ll look at each film of a respective trilogy and talk about the biggest scene-stealer from that movie. Some of these choices are easier than others, while a few could be left up for a hearty debate.
We will start with the sequel trilogy and work our way down to the prequels. Here are three scene stealers from the sequel trilogy.
Han Solo
Picking the scene-stealer in The Force Awakens was a tough choice. It came down to a few options with both Maz Kanata and Unkar Plutt both in the running. In the end, I had to go with Han Solo as he just chews up (no pun intended) every scene he is. He absolutely owns the screen when he’s on it in this film and brings a great mix of humor and seriousness to his role.
Han is closer to who he was in A New Hope in Episode VII than he was to when we last saw him in Return of the Jedi. He’s gone back to his smuggling ways and is a grizzled looking character who finally tracks down his beloved but stolen Millennium Falcon.
He still has his roguish charm but also is able to dispel some wisdom to young Finn and Rey when he tells them about Luke Skywalker and the Force. We see he’s come a long way since his cynical days of believing in only luck. Han is a bit downtrodden as he’s separated from Leia, his son has fallen to the Dark Side, and he’s gotten himself involved in some sketchy deals with shady characters.
He finally gets back to the Leia and the Resistance and helps Finn enter Starkiller Base. He confronts his son where he ultimately meets his demise as Ben plunges his lightsaber through his father’s abdomen.
While it was hard seeing Han die, his return to the screen was an enjoyable and fun ride. It was full of plenty of moments that have since become classic to Han’s character, and while he was on the screen in this film, it was hard to pay attention to anyone besides this scruffy-looking nerf herder.
Porgs
It’s always a crapshoot whether the cute or interesting side characters will be a hit or not in a Star Wars film. Chewie was loved, as was Yoda, but the Ewoks were met with a less than enthusiastic response.
Jar Jar Binks and his Gungan friends were also met with disdain, while species like the Kimonians, Nemoidians, and Geonosians were met with a more neutral response and weren’t really loved nor hated.
The Last Jedi added three new major creatures to the Star Wars universe. It had the horse-like Fathier’s of Canto Bight, the crystal fox-like Vulptexes of Crait, and, of course, those lovable puffin-like Porgs who hung out with Luke Skywalker on Ahch-To.
Of those creatures, the Porgs stick out the most and they stole every scene they showed up in Episode VIII. They are cute but not annoying and have plenty of fun moments especially in how they interact with Chewie. Some of the funniest moments in The Last Jedi involve Chewie and the Porgs.
Arguably the best scene is when Chewie is about to eat a Porg for dinner and a live one comes out and gives him sad eyes until he finally gives up on eating his dinner. They also end up in the Falcon and accompany Chewie to Crait and even look concerned when he’s zipping through the tunnels of that salt riddled planet.
It was nice to again see the Porgs show up in The Rise of Skywalker as they were a fun little species and a highlight and scene-stealer of The Last Jedi.
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Babu Frik
When it comes to The Rise of Skywalker, determining who is the biggest scene-stealer is a given. There’s no doubt it’s the adorable little droid hacker Babu Frik.
Babu Frik is an amazing character for many reasons. First of all, he’s the first droid hacker we see in all of Star Wars. It’s a little surprising the idea of a droid hacker never occurred to anyone making the previous movies and we had to wait until the last chapter to see this profession included on the big screen. In a world that is loaded with droids, having black market hackers would actually be a pretty common thing.
Frik also is just a cute little bugger. He’s got this tiny little body with a scrunched up little face with big bulging black eyes. He speaks almost as if he’s high or stoned, with a laid back mumbly tone. He’s got one of the funniest moments in the film when after he hacks into Threepio and resets his memory, he acts as though he’s never met the golden droid before when Threepio introduces himself.
Fans were all worried during the film, that Frik was killed when Kijimi was destroyed but when he popped his head up during the final battle, everyone cheered and was thrilled to see this beloved little guy alive to hack another day.
Who were some other scene stealers from the sequel trilogy? Stream all the movies now on Disney+.