One of the many things that Andor has been praised for is its nuanced characterization. Star Wars media tends to stick rigidly to established archetypes – Luke Skywalker the mythical hero, Han Solo the roguish gunslinger, Obi-Wan Kenobi the wise wizard – but the most interesting and three-dimensional characters in a galaxy far, far away don’t fit into a particular archetype.
Andor has these characters in spades. Dedra Meero isn’t a mustache-twirling villain like Grand Moff Tarkin; she’s a cold-hearted Imperial bureaucrat who wants to do her job well. From Finn to Mando to Leia Organa, the Star Wars universe has plenty of complex characters who don’t fit into a standard mold.
10 Cassian Andor
When Cassian Andor was introduced in Rogue One, he seemed like the same kind of diehard Rebel acolyte that Star Wars fans had seen before. But the first season of Andor has filled in a much more complex backstory than fans anticipated. It took some convincing to get Cassian on the Rebellion’s side.
As he’s been harassed by Pre-Mor officers, forced to watch friends die at the hands of Stormtrooper firing squads, and wrongfully imprisoned by the crooked Imperial justice system, Cassian’s origin story has highlighted how the Empire unwittingly created its own revolutionaries.
9 Ahsoka Tano
Most of the Force users in the Star Wars universe are separated into the light side and the dark side; the Jedi and the Sith. But Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker’s former apprentice, exists somewhere in the middle. She leaves the Jedi Order to prowl the galaxy as a ronin, bravely stepping in to help people in need.
This is a whole new type of character for a galaxy far, far away, and her characterization and motivation will be explored in more depth than ever before when she gets her own series on Disney+.
8 Kino Loy
After being cast as an archetypal puppet-master villain in the sequel trilogy, Andy Serkis played a much more nuanced and three-dimensional Star Wars role in the prison episodes of Andor. Kino Loy was introduced as the same gruff jailhouse ringleader seen in every prison movie.
But throughout his arc in the series’ first season, Serkis and creator Tony Gilroy peeled back the layers to expose the character’s vulnerabilities. Serkis nailed the defeated heartbreak of the line, “I can’t swim.”
7 Grand Admiral Thrawn
In stark contrast with characters like the Emperor and General Hux, Grand Admiral Thrawn is one of the Star Wars universe’s most sympathetic Imperial figures. It’s often said that Thrawn is more like a Star Trek villain than a Star Wars villain.
He isn’t cartoonishly evil like Grand Moff Tarkin; he’s a calculating military bureaucrat who rewards hard work and encourages his subordinates instead of striking fear into them.
6 The Mandalorian
The eponymous bounty hunter in The Mandalorian was conceived and introduced as a callous, cool-as-ice gunslinger in the mold of Boba Fett. He was set up as a recognizable archetype in the pilot episode, which perfectly laid the groundwork for The Mandalorian’s now-iconic run.
But this cold-hearted mercenary quickly turned out to have a huge heart and a huge capacity for love when he decided to protect his latest bounty, Grogu, from the nefarious Imperials that wanted to extract his blood.
5 Mon Mothma
In her early appearances, Rebel leader Mon Mothma was tasked with delivering exposition about upcoming missions. But Andor’s first season has rounded her out into a more nuanced and multi-dimensional figure, leading a double life as an Imperial senator and a Rebel sympathizer.
At the height of the Empire’s reign, Mon is unsure if the Rebels are doing the right thing. And on top of that, her husband and daughter both roll their eyes whenever she tries to talk to them. Mon is no longer an exposition delivery system; she’s a human being.
4 Finn
Of all the main characters introduced in the sequel trilogy, Finn is the only one who didn’t adhere to an existing Star Wars archetype. A Stormtrooper who defected from the evil empire to join the rebellion against them burst onto the scene as an exciting new character type for the franchise.
Finn arguably should’ve been the hero of the Star Wars sequel trilogy instead of Rey. He was one of the trilogy’s most original creations, but he sadly got increasingly sidelined as the sequels went on.
3 Leia Organa
The feisty heroine of the original trilogy, Leia Organa, is modeled after the “damsel in distress” archetype, but she refuses to conform to the tenets of that archetype. Leia subverts all the tropes and clichés of the usual “princess locked in a tower” fairy tale narrative.
Han and Luke save the princess from the detention center aboard the Death Star, but they don’t have an exit strategy so, moments later, she ends up having to save them.
2 Luthen Rael
One of the most compelling new characters introduced in Andor was Luthen Rael, an early trailblazer in the Rebel Alliance. Throughout the first season of Andor, Luthen has been dealing in the black market and pulling off daring Imperial heists to bankroll the Rebellion.
Although his shady dealings will ultimately lead the Rebels to victory, Luthen isn’t depicted as a straightforward clear-cut hero; the supporting players around him, including his fellow Rebels, question the ethics of his actions.
1 Anakin Skywalker
The tragic story of Anakin Skywalker has created its own archetype in the realm of sci-fi and fantasy. Darth Vader was introduced in the original movie as a faceless symbol of evil, but the sequels and prequels revealed the tortured human being hiding behind the mask.
Ever since Vader returned to the light side and the prequels explored his heartbreaking backstory, just about every oppressive sci-fi villain has been given a redemption arc (including a subsequent Star Wars villain, Kylo Ren).