Barriss to Beq: 5 more characters who deserve to be in Tales of the Jedi

The anthology series Tales of the Jedi is a wellspring of potential storytelling. While we’ve already covered different characters who could be featured in the series, there are still plenty of potential candidates from every era. Sticking with the prequel and Imperial era from Season 1, here are 5 more characters who would be fantastic additions to Tales of the Jedi.

1. Barriss Offee

A huge question mark of a character coming out of The Clone Wars is Barriss Offee. She is a character fans have been asking about since her last full appearance in Season 5 of the series. Pretty much anytime a mysterious new character or Inquisitor pops up, especially around Ahsoka Tano, the speculation mill starts to churn. She was a good friend to Ahsoka which is why Barriss' turn was so shocking.

This friend-turned-enemy is exactly what needs to be explained. It’s a big jump from The Clone Wars Season 2, when Barriss and Ahsoka bond during the Second Battle of Geonosis, to Season 5, when she frames Ahsoka for murder. The issue is that Barriss doesn’t have any significant appearance in almost three seasons other than the occasional background cameo. During the episode “Brain Invaders,” Barriss discusses with Ahsoka that Jedi are keepers of the peace. However, that’s the closest fans get to Barriss’ turn. Even then, in that conversation, Ahsoka has more dissenting viewpoints, not Barriss. Did Ahsoka’s words sinking into Barriss make her act out later? We just don’t know, though we did a fuller breakdown of that conversation here.

Tales of the Jedi is the perfect opportunity to close that gap between Season 2 and Season 5 of The Clone Wars, showing exactly how and why the Jedi Order disenfranchised Barriss. Was it a lack of care? Barriss nearly died twice during the Second Battle of Geonosis. She was almost crushed to death under the weapons factory and then taken over by brain parasites. We also know that her master, Luminara Unduli, wasn’t the warmest person, thanks to insight from the Martez sisters in Season 7. It’s all but stated that it was Luminara who looked at Trace and Rafa, two young girls who had just become orphans, and essentially told them, 'May the Force be with you,' before leaving them. She walked away from two girls grieving their parents’ deaths hours before, leaving the Martez sisters with no aid or support. It’s what turned them both to a life of crime to survive. Is this how Luminara treated her padawan when Barriss needed her, or was she compassionate like Anakin was to Ahsoka after Geonosis? We don’t know.

We also don’t know if Barriss survived Order 66. While she’s a prime Imperial Inquisitor candidate, I don’t see a world where she lasted too long. Her boss would be Anakin Skywalker turned Darth Vader, the king of holding grudges. As Anakin was the one who brought Barriss to justice for framing his padawan, I doubt he’d be willing to let that go as a Sith Lord. Escaping Order 66 would be escaping Darth Vader, which would be quite the story to tell.