Benicio Del Toro’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi character DJ is one of the most interesting new additions to the series, but who is DJ and will he ever reappear? It’s fair to say anticipation was high when Disney announced they were making a new series of Star Wars films. George Lucas had previously ruled out more movies following the completion of the prequel trilogy with Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith, but Disney planned a range of sequels and spinoffs after they acquired the property.
The new movie series kicked off with J.J. Abrams Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which introduced new heroes while original trilogy characters like Han Solo, Leia and Chewbacca returned. While the movie was a massive success, reviews were somewhat mixed, with some finding the movie to be something of a remake of A New Hope. The movie also ended on an almighty cliffhanger with new heroine Rey finally tracking down the long-missing Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill).
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Star Wars: The Last Jedi picked up immediately after this cliffhanger with the heroes spread out across the universe in their fight against the First Order. While on a mission to Cantonica resistance members Finn and Rose Tico are arrested and encounter a “slicer” named DJ, a hacker character played by Benicio Del Toro. Del Toro had previously been cast as Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, but left the production following George Lucas’ decision to cut nearly all the character’s dialogue.
DJ's name actually stands for his motto “Don’t Join,” because his personal philosophy is that the world is a machine without any real good or bad guys, so he focuses on his own gain. While little is known about the character before he meets Finn and Rose, it's known from the one-shot comic Star Wars: The Last Jedi – DJ – Most Wanted he was living in Canto Bight and made a living scheming the planet’s wealthy with his slicing skills. He also created a fake villain called Denel Strench to take the fall for his crimes, a possible nod to mythical criminal Keyser Soze from previous Del Toro movie The Usual Suspects.
He helps Finn and Rose escape the planet and agrees to help infiltrate a First Order ship to disable the tracking system, but when they are caught, DJ cuts a deal to save his own life and get a reward. While most characters in the Star Wars universe are either good or bad, Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s DJ was one of the most intriguing because he’s really neither. As he explains to Finn, he doesn’t believe either side are truly good or bad and that looking after himself is the most important thing.
While this might have set up a heroic, redemptive arc for the character in the film, DJ stays true to his word and saves himself when he gets a chance. Considering he escapes Star Wars: The Last Jedi alive, there’s scope for DJ to reappear. Del Toro has said he’d love to return, but the character doesn’t appear to be part of J.J. Abrams Star Wars: Episode IX - unless his appearance is being kept secret. For now, it appears there are no plans to reuse DJ, but since the character isn’t tied to a particular story there’s always a chance he could return in a future movie or TV series.
