Star Wars: 10 Fan-Favorite Characters Who Only Appeared In One Scene
The Star Wars films and TV shows have introduced dozens of beloved characters and even people who have never seen a Star Wars film know Darth Vader, Han Solo, Luke, R2, and Chewbacca. But beyond the most iconic characters of the franchise, Star Wars is full of obscure briefly seen characters who the fans love just as much.
One of the in-jokes among the Star Wars community is that every character, no matter how briefly they appeared, ends up getting their own action figure and eventually their own back story. But which of these one scene characters are the ones who stand out the most for the fans?
In the original 1977 Star Wars film, Colin Higgins was cast as Wedge Antilles, as reported by Nerdist. His first scene filmed was the debriefing of the rebel pilots before the assault on the Death Star in which Wedge and Luke debate the feasibility of hitting the thermal exhaust port with a proton torpedo.
But Higgins, more used to TV acting, had trouble remembering his lines and was fired on his first day of shooting. Denis Lawson was brought in to replace him as Wedge for the rest of the film and series, baffling fans as to whether the two are the same character or not, with Higgins jokingly being called "Fake Wedge." Years later, the 2017 short story "Duty Roster" made it official that he was a separate character named Col Takbright.
Bounty Hunter Aurra Sing appeared in The Phantom Menace for just four seconds and was seen watching the pod race from a balcony in Beggar's Canyon. As reported by Den of Geeks, The character was created by Doug Chiang after George Lucas requested more characters to fill the pod race scene. Chiang's working name for the character was Babe Fett.
Within a few months, the character was given her own comic book as part of the Bounty Hunters series by Dark Horse. She appeared in many expanded universe adventures in the years that followed, including the 2008 Clone Wars show. Her unique look and badass abilities have made her very popular with fans.
The acclaimed season 1 finale of The Mandalorian was directed by Taika Waititi and featured an opening scene utilizing his unique comedic style. The two bikers had appeared in brief glimpses in the previous episode, but here they were given dialogue and significant screentime in a whole new context. They were played by comedians Jason Sudeikis and Adam Pally.
The two characters have a perfect comedically timed conversation about Moff Gideon and one of the scouts tries to talk his way into sneaking a peek at the captured Grogu. One of them tries unsuccessfully to shoot a nearby can, an in-joke on how stormtroopers seem to always have terrible aim. Fans winced as one of them smacked Grogu, but IG-11 showed up and cut their screen time short.
This is the definitive example of a background character getting their own action figure. Hammerhead appeared in the Mos Eisley Cantina and was on screen for just a matter of seconds. He has since appeared in numerous reference books where he was given a full backstory and appeared in the activity book Bounty Hunt.
In 1978 he was given his own action figure in the original run of Kenner Star Wars figures. Hammerhead was further immortalized in the 1982 Steven Spielberg hit E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial when Elliot shows the action figure to E.T. and even identifies it as Hammerhead.
When Luke Skywalker was dropped through the trap door in Jabba's throne room, he found himself face to face with the terrifying Rancor. The fight between them is a memorable moment in Return of the Jedi and the Rancor has become the franchise's most iconic beast. After Luke crushed the beast with the large gate, the Rancor's master Malakili raced out.
Malakili broke down into tears at the sight of his dear Rancor lying dead, a unique and unexpectedly heartbreaking moment. He has since appeared in numerous pieces of expanded media, including his own short story in Tales From Jabba's Palace, which revealed that he had plans to escape off-world with the Rancor.
More characters from the Mos Eisley Cantina! When Luke is standing at the bar, he is suddenly and rudely yelled at by Ponda Baba, a strange-looking dark-headed creature with a reddish butt-shaped chin. Sound designer Ben Burtt used walrus sounds for the character's voice, as reported by starwars.com.
Baba's friend Evazan translated to Luke that Baba didn't like him and that if he doesn't watch himself "you'll be dead." Things continue to heat up until Obi-Wan draws his lightsaber and slices off Ponda's arm, the first of many dismemberments in the series. Decades later and after George Lucas sold the franchise, the pair made a second one-scene appearance in Rogue One.
Easily one of the most memorable one-scene characters in the films, Greedo also appeared in the Mos Eisley in 1977's Star Wars. The green-skinned Rodian was after the bounty placed on Han Solo by Jabba. Greedo has always been a regular in Star Wars toy lines.
The scene in question saw Greedo holding Han Solo at gunpoint while Solo secretly pulled out his own blaster and fried the Rodian first. Controversially, this scene was edited in the 1997 special edition to have Greedo fire first, leading to the "Han shot first" phenomenon. Greedo appeared fighting Anakin in a scene filmed for The Phantom Menace that ended up on the cutting room floor.
While Darth Vader and the Imperial fleet pursued the Millennium Falcon throughout The Empire Strikes Back, they turned to outside help for assistance. Boba Fett and the rest of the galaxy's most notorious bounty hunters received a briefing from Vader aboard his super star destroyer The Executor.
Each of these bounty hunters remained very popular with fans and they have all been cast as action figures and appeared in expanded media. IG-88 tried to steal Han Solo from Boba Fett in the pop-up comic book Battle of the Bounty Hunters. Dengar and Bossk were both playable in the Star Wars Battlefront games.
Porkins was one of the rebel pilots who flew at the Battle of Yavin. There was just something about him that stood out and made him more memorable than the rest of the pilots who appeared throughout the battle.
Porkins flew an X-Wing during the assault on the Death Star and his call sign was Red Six. His ship suffered a malfunction during the battle and he ignored Biggs Darklighter's call to evacuate. He was tragically struck down by the Death Star's turbolasers.
The loveable Dexter Jettster was probably the best hugger in the galaxy. The large, hardworking, four-armed Besalisk affectionately known as Dex ran Dex's Diner in Coruscant. He was a dear friend of Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Jedi came to him for help after the failed attempt on Senator Amidala's life.
Thanks to Jettster's expertise, Kenobi was able to track Jango Fett's saberdart to Kamino, a planet that had been erased from the Jedi archives. Jettster has continued to show up from time to time in Star Wars material, such as the 2017 Star Wars Adventures comic and the novels Queen's Hope and Brotherhood.