While Star Wars is a franchise that has been helped over the course of the last 42 years with its committed fans, their love for the saga hasn’t always been a good thing. At least for some of the actors and actresses involved. Not everybody can be a Luke Skywalker or a Han Solo, but that still hasn’t stopped certain parts of the fan base turning on Hollywood stars despite them, more often than not, having little to no say over their characters.
There are a plethora of characters who fans either never connected with and so grew a lot of disdain for, who were so badly written the characters merited a dislike, or who, even if they are good characters, did so much to get on the wrong side of the heated fandom.
Updated October 14th By Rhys McGinley: There is such a broad and diverse catalog of characters throughout the Star Wars franchise, reaching out throughout a colossal timeline and vast galaxy. So many of them are phenomenal and beloved, having incredible arcs and bringing the beautiful stories of the franchise to life —whether that be in the role of a hero, a villain, or something in between. However, there are also many, many characters who get a lot of hate from the passionate fandom, too many to limit to just ten.
Jar Jar Binks
Yep, you guessed it. There has never been a character quite so divisive like Gungan Jar Jar Binks, who made his debut during 1999’s The Phantom Menace. He was meant to be there for comic relief, with George Lucas having him at the forefront of the movie alongside the likes of Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Anakin Skywalker.
But that decision backfired with most people absolutely hating him. The loathing for the character deeply hurt actor Ahmed Best, who has since admitted he contemplated taking his own life. Lucas, as a result of the backlash, restricted Best’s character to background roles in the two sequels that followed.
Mace Windu
Mace Windu is a pretty great character. Not only is he an incredibly powerful Jedi, but a unique one with his coveted Vaapad style of lightsaber combat.
However, over the years Windu has done so much to make fans hate him as a person. His treatment of Anakin in the prequel trilogy annoyed fans of Anakin and the prequels to no end, but to make it even worse, Windu in The Clone Wars with his blind, stringent loyalty to the Jedi Code, treatment of Ahsoka, and general attitude made many a fan despise him.
Ziro The Hutt
Sticking with the topic of The Clone Wars, Ziro the Hutt is a recurring secondary antagonist in the series, popping up every now and then usually getting in trouble with the law, and getting help from the show's beloved bounty hunters.
He is absolutely intolerable. He is a perfect image of what The Clone Wars would be if it were made carelessly like a cheesy kids show with no depth, and he has continued to inspire groans and moans from fans.
Boss Nass
Given how much everybody hated Jar Jar Binks, nearly everything the Gungan was involved in was also shredded by angry fans. Among them was the character of Boss Nass, who was in charge of the Gungans and actually played a pretty important role in the Republic’s victory over the Trade Federation by sending his own men into battle.
Boss Nass had a tendency to, like Jar Jar, try and be comedic. But he, too, failed at this task and has barely been involved in Star Wars in the years since. Given he was almost just as unpopular as Ahmed Best’s character, that’s probably for the best.
Watto
It’s probably best to stick with The Phantom Menace, with more entries from that blockbuster making this list. Watto was an animated character who owned Anakin, and Shmi Skywalker knew the Hutt gangster family and was also happy to associate himself with villainous scum such as Sebulba, the rodent who would try and kill Anakin during the Pod Racing at Mos Espa.
But he was dull, irritating, and just didn’t seem to fit into the story. There were also accusations that he was a portrayal of a minority group - something George Lucas always denied. However, regardless, he was another character despised by the fandom.
Nute Gunray
Early on into the first movie of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, we meet a member of the Trade Federation in the form of Nute Gunray. Working for Darth Sidious, who is really Chancellor Palpatine, he is one of the movie’s antagonists, putting pressure on Padme Amidala into signing a treaty and ordering his battle droids to stop anybody who gets in the Separatists’ way.
But he’s another character who was accused of being a representation of a minority group - something Lucas again denied. He wasn’t very intimidating as a villain, either, and many were delighted to see Anakin Skywalker chop him in half in Revenge of the Sith.
Fode And Beed
Even all these years on, the tonal shift from 1983’s Return of the Jedi to 1999’s The Phantom Menace is astonishing. It’s almost like George Lucas decided to chance his arm at something entirely different, rather than carrying on from the things that fans had loved. And, once again, it’s comedy which let the movie down.
Fode and Beed are meant to be amusing commentators for the Pod Racing but they’re just not. Even children don’t find them funny in the slightest and even though they’re only in the movie for a short while, they too are regarded infamous among the hardcore people in the fan base. They had their five minutes in the spotlight - and that was more than enough.
Iron Squadron
Earlier on characters from the beloved and acclaimed Clone Wars whom inspired a lot of hate from fans. Star Wars: Rebels, maybe an underappreciated masterpiece in the Star Wars franchise, but it also has its duds.
Azmorigan deserves a special mention for being absolutely awful, however, no characters got quite the level of hate as Iron Squadron. In all honesty, they were pretty bad, being extremely irritating and not making much sense. They were definitely leaning on the childish side of things, but that does not soften the abhorrence of fans.
Joh Yowza & Sy Snootles
The Star Wars special editions are famously divisive and controversial, with the fan hate for them perhaps going a bit too far considering how much of it got directed at George Lucas personally.
Nevertheless, the extended Max Rebo Band performance is undoubtedly the worst scene in the original trilogy, with the two singers, Sy Snootles and Joh Yowza, becoming vilified by fans who, understandably, despise the scene. Sy Snootles also appears in The Clone Wars as the love interest of Ziro the Hutt and the two negatives in that instance do not come together to make a positive, far from it.
Anakin Skywalker
Hayden Christensen is a popular man these days, with many in hindsight enjoying his performance in Revenge of the Sith. That, just about, made amends for his whiny, angsty performance in Attack of the Clones where he was arguably the worst thing in the entire movie.
But, the version of Anakin that many really hated was Jake Lloyd’s portrayal as a nine-year-old incarnation of the character in The Phantom Menace. Lloyd was damaged from the abuse and mockery he suffered, having to deal with health problems in the years that followed. While he wasn’t a great character, he didn’t deserve the backlash he faced.
Salacious Crumb
Even though Return of the Jedi is the final installment of the original trilogy, which is deemed the holy grail by most fans of the Star Wars saga, that doesn’t stop it having flaws, one major one being Salacious Crumb.
The annoying little pest was again used as a tool for comedy but his high-pitched voice, coupled with his loyalty to the repulsive Jabba the Hutt, meant the decision to use his character backfired. Somebody baring his likeness was spotted in the very episode of The Mandalorian yet, thankfully, producer Jon Favreau and director Dave Filoni had the sense not to give him a speaking part.
Commander Fox
Perhaps the greatest thing The Clone Wars gave to the Star Wars canon was the deep dive into the clones, both as individuals and as a brotherhood, with so many of them becoming fan-favorite characters such as Rex, Fives, Wolffe, Echo, and many, many more.
One clone who is far from a fan favorite is Commander Fox, CC-1010, who served as the Clone Commander of the Coruscant Guard. Fox was not only the clone who killed Fives, but he is generally too trigger happy and had a significant role to play in Ahsoka's arc in season five which very nearly got her killed multiple times.
Rose
We’re moving onto the sequel trilogy and, of course, Rose Tico had to make the list. Poor Kelly-Marie Tran has been bombarded with abuse, even reportedly being driven off social media as a result. And while that’s clearly a case of people being nasty, there’s no denying that her character was underwhelming during the blockbuster.
What doesn’t help Rose’s cause is that she’s on Canto Bight with Finn at the same time as the best scenes of the movie including Supreme Leader Snoke, Rey, and Kylo Ren all share screen time. All in all, the hate for Rose is more down to the writing of her, as shown by her blatantly getting shoved to the side in The Rise Of Skywalker.
Vice Admiral Holdo
While Vice Admiral Holdo isn’t the worst character on this list by any means, she is certainly the most frustrating. Period. She spends the entirety of The Last Jedi belittling everybody’s favorite Resistance pilot Poe Dameron after taking charge following Leia Organa’s brush with death. When, really, she should have just told him her plan.
She keeps her plan to survive their chase with The Force Order all to herself. For like, literally no reason. She should have told Poe but instead, she leaves herself open to a mutiny, which is very nearly successful. While her death scene is pretty cool, what with the sudden silence as she sacrifices herself by crashing into Supreme Leader Snoke’s Star Destroyer, Holdo is another we’d rather forget about.
Rey
Rey is a strange one, on the one hand, she is an inspirational female figure in the Star Wars franchise who was performed brilliantly by Daisy Ridley, who has some fantastic moments, and is a great protagonist whose character and arc suffered from a lack of a plan, and from The Rise Of Skywalker.
Nevertheless, there has been a vocally hate-filled section of the fandom who cannot stand Rey, that’s because she’s been accused of being over-powered. She beat Kylo Ren with no training, bested Luke Skywalker in a showdown, is an amazing flyer despite spending much of her life on Jakku, then there is "Rey Skywalker," as divisive a quote as any in the Star Wars franchise. As has been made clear, there is a section of the Star Wars fandom whose toxicity spreads a lot of unnecessary hate at female characters, which in some cases is justified to an extent, but often goes too far.