Star Wars Spin-offs - Written by Liam Carrigan
Which Other Original Trilogy Characters Deserve the “Tarkin” Treatment?
First of all welcome everyone, to this, what I hope will be the first of many blogs, articles and inane ramblings I will have the pleasure of sharing with you here.
It’s fair to say that I have been a Star Wars fan for as long as I can remember. Ever since I first saw Return of the Jedi, as the big Christmas Day movie premier on television as a 5 year old back in 1988, I’ve been hooked.
Of course later came the prequels, which I probably don’t hate as much as many fans do. I saw each of them in the cinema, hoping they would get better until finally with Revenge of the Sith we got a movie that was at least getting closer to what I identified as Star Wars.
Of course, the hype engine has kicked into lightspeed once again this year as we build up to the release of Episode VII: The Force Awakens, now a mere matter of days away.
As a keen writer, I also love a good read. Recently, I’ve also taken up walking, as a means of getting fit. Alongside my regular walks, audiobooks have also become a highly enjoyable hobby. One of the first such books I got into earlier this year was the excellent Star Wars: Tarkin. Part biography, part adventure story, part mystery, this book reinvigorated my interest in the Star Wars canon outside of the movies in a big way.
And yet, for all Peter Cushing delivered a memorable performance as the sallow-faced slayer of Alderaan, it’s fair to say that Tarkin is probably not in most people’s top 5 characters in the saga. Indeed go back and re-watch Episode IV and you will be amazed at just how little screen time he actually has.
It’s fair to say that choosing a comparatively smaller character as the subject for one of the first novels of the new canon was quite a risky strategy, but it seems to have paid dividends. Under the guidance of James Luceno, who is currently neck and neck with Drew Karpyshyn at the top of my all-time list of favorite Star Wars novelists, Tarkin is a great read. It presents a fascinating insight into the methodology, motivations and psyche of the man who would go on to perpetrate the single greatest act of genocide, so far at least, in the Star Wars universe.
So it got me thinking, as I was re-watching the original trilogy earlier this month, which other characters from those first 3 movies would we like to see more of? Who has the potential for an interesting backstory that could benefit from the “Tarkin treatment”?
In preparing this top 5 list, I have omitted the obvious answers of Han Solo and Boba Fett as we know they are getting their own movies already. The following characters may not quite have the sufficient impact to support their own movies, but I certainly think novels wouldn’t be out of the question.
Here’s my list in no particular order:
1. Jabba the Hutt
Even as a child, I always wondered, “what’s the big deal with Jabba the Hutt?” How did this huge, surly, barely mobile slug creature become one of the galaxy’s most feared crime lords?
How could he fight a gang war and rise to the top of the criminal tree whilst struggling to even catch a breath?
It seems to me that Jabba would never be the type to directly get his hands dirty. Rather he would use threats, manipulation and cold, hard cash to get what he wanted.
It was touched upon previously that the Hutts were a crime family dynasty going back thousands of years, all the way to the time of “The Old Republic”. Of course much of this material has, for the time being at least, been rendered “non-canon”. So where does that leave the Star Wars Universe’s answer to the Corleones?
I would love to hear more about the Hutts, and how Jabba in particular rose up to become the family’s figurehead.
2. General Veers
The undoubted highlight of the first act of The Empire Strikes Back was the Battle of Hoth, where the Rebel Alliance faced down the twin threats of an Imperial Star Destroyer blockade from the sky, and the menace of the huge AT-AT Walkers on the ground.
Leading the AT-ATs that day was General Maximillian Veers.
Whilst the General himself only appears onscreen for a matter of seconds, British veteran actor Julian Glover gives Veers a power, a presence and an edge of menace that makes the character such a memorable figure all these years later.
By the end of the Battle of Hoth on screen, little is known about the ultimate fate of General Veers. At the battle’s conclusion, he isn’t mentioned or seen for the rest of the movie. A scene depicting his walker’s destruction at the hands of kamikaze run from a Rebel Snowspeeder made it into the novelization of The Empire Strikes Back, but was never filmed.
Later expanded universe stories suggested that Veers survived this encounter, albeit at the cost of being confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
However, much like Jabba the Hutt, I am more interested in how Veers rose to become the feared head of the imperial ground forces. I’ve always liked the idea of a movie or story told from the imperial officer’s perspective. I think, much like many opposing combatants in the real world both past and present, people like Veers and his cohorts were not necessarily evil. Rather they were loyal soldiers in a military and believed that their cause was right, be it because of propaganda or because of the Emperor and Vader’s merciless leadership. In fact, if one watches Return of the Jedi, in the case of Tarkin’s replacement aboard the second Death Star, Moff Jerjerrod, you almost feel sorry for the man. Again despite it being a very small role with minimal dialogue, Michael Pennington, in his portrayal of Jerjerrod conveys not only a sense of military duty but also a huge sense of fear and anxiety in the face of his Emperor’s wrath. Whether this suggested new project focussed on Veers, Jerjerrod, or a totally different and new imperial officer, I would love to see these unique character dynamics explored in greater detail.
3. Lando Calrissian
One of the most disappointing pieces of news for me in the run up to the imminent release of The Force Awakens was that, for the time being at least, we won’t be seeing Billy Dee Williams back on screen alongside Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford. Though it is undoubtedly a masterpiece of film making, The Empire Strikes Back is, at its core, a very dark movie, and William’s turn as Lando provided some much needed levity to some of the films darkest moments.
As far as the movie canon goes, all we have thus far for Lando’s backstory is a few throwaway references, hidden in his dialogue. We know that he used to own the Millennium Falcon, before losing it to Han Solo in a game of chance. We know that he came to be the leader of Cloud City under similar circumstances.
We also know that, at least at one time in his life he was a military pilot. But just what was his famous “maneuver at the battle of Tannab”, referenced briefly in Return of the Jedi?
Of course it is very possible that we may get to see an early Lando Calrissian and his interactions with a young Han Solo in the up and coming Han Solo spin-off movie. However, I think Lando deserves more than just to be a bit part player. It remains to be seen if he will show up in Episode VII or IX but I for one hope we haven’t seen the last of him. In the meantime, a novel about some of his early adventures would certainly be most welcome.
4. Admiral Ackbar
In much the same way as the likes of Boba Fett, and to a lesser extent the aforementioned General Veers, Admiral Ackbar was a character who made a big impression, despite having only a few minutes of screen time. Although it was his military leadership that ultimately led to the destruction of the second Death Star and the demise of the Emperor, Ackbar always struck me as a reluctant leader. Cast your mind back to the climactic Battle of Endor at the end of Return of the Jedi. As Darth Vader’s Super Star Destroyer, The Executor, plummets towards its incendiary end on the surface of the Death Star we see a brief glimpse of Ackbar’s emotion. He lurches back in his chair and appears to give a sigh. Was it a sigh of relief? A sigh of sadness at the death of the heroic pilot who sacrificed himself to bring that ship down? Or was it in final acknowledgement that the battle was ultimately turning in the Rebel Alliance’s favor?
I don’t think it was any of these. I think it was a sigh of weariness, of hope that the seemingly endless cycle of war and destruction was finally coming to an end.
In the movie itself, the scene is left unexplained. It stands as a testament to subtlety and as this article shows, is open to many different interpretations.
As I would love to see a novel that explored the motivations of the Imperial officers in greater detail, I would love to see Ackbar receive a similar treatment. However, I think with Ackbar, it would be interesting to see where he goes after Endor. How does this reluctant leader adjust to a life of civilian government after years of war? This internal struggle was touched upon during the recently released novel “Aftermath” and indeed we may see it explored a little deeper in “The Force Awakens”. Nonetheless, Ackbar is a character I am glad we will see revisited.
5. The Emperor’s Royal Guard
One of the hidden gems of the now defunct Expanded Universe was the excellent radio drama Crimson Empire, which explored the origins and adventures of the Emperor’s Royal Guard.
Seen only for a few brief moments in Return of the Jedi and Revenge of the Sith, These red-cloaked guardians are as fearsome as they are mysterious. As a child, I often wondered what was going on inside those costumes. Were they humans? Robots? Aliens? Their mystery made them memorable. The old EU fleshed these characters out as the best of the best the Galactic Empire had to offer. An Imperial equivalent to the SAS or the US special forces. Perhaps we may see some of this in the upcoming Rogue One or some of its accompanying novels.
In the cinematic universe it is, perhaps, best that they retain this mystery. However, for lovers of lore such as myself, I would love to see the Imperial Royal Guard’s training academy revisited in the new canon and in greater detail than was afforded in the all too brief Crimson Empire.
So, it’s over to you now, dear readers. What do you think of my choices?
One of Star Wars’ greatest attributes and perhaps one of the main reasons why the franchise has endured for almost 40 years is the huge depth and potential to explore this entire galaxy of characters. The only limits to this galaxy far far away are the limits of our own imagination.
Thanks for reading and may the force be with you.
