It’s no surprise to anyone on the internet that the main characters from Star Wars: The Force Awakens are a huge hit. Rey, Finn, Poe and Kylo Ren have already garnered themselves a huge fanbase. But they’re not the only characters that struck a chord with viewers. Many incredibly minor characters in the film have gained a fervent cult following, even those who didn’t get so much as a name in the film itself. Not only that, but these fans have pieced together a surprising amount of information about these characters through tie-in materials.
So let’s take a look at some of the most popular minor characters in The Force Awakens, discuss why they’ve gripped the fandom so and talk about what we know about them! Who knows, maybe we’ll be seeing more of them in the sequels. Who were your favorite minor characters from The Force Awakens? Can you think of any notable ones this article didn’t cover?
Jessika Pava
The Resistance X-wing pilot played by Jessica Henwick didn’t get a name in the film, but eagle eyed fans and those familiar with the tie-in material know she’s called Jessika Pava, and her nickname is Testor. She appeared in a tie-in novel called Weapon of the Jedi, where she asked C3PO to tell her about Luke Skywalker.
Art by Phil Noto from Weapon of the Jedi
Not much may be known about Jessika, but she’s really captured fans hearts. Jessica Lachinal wrote an article on The Mary Sue about the Asian representation in The Force Awakens where she discussed how great it was to finally see someone who looks like her in the Star Wars universe through Jessika. She related deeply to Jess’s fangirling of Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles.
Jessika is also paired up with Rey a lot in fanart. Sure, they’ve never interacted, but Jess is basically the only girl around Rey’s age in the movie. So for those who are rooting for a lesbian Rey, this is their main ship. Even if that weren’t the case, they look pretty cute together. The ship is sailing strong- there’s already 128 fanworks on A03 alone. Jessica Henwick herself is totally on board for some Jess-on-Rey action, as she’s retweeted some fanart of the pairing. By the way, if you want to know the pairing name, it’s BlueRey, mashing up Rey’s name and Jess’s call sign, which is Blue Three. Pretty cute.
Admiral Statura
Lachinal mentioned this man as another example of positive Asian representation in the film. He’s a Resistance leader and he’s the one who suggests blowing up the oscillator at the Starkiller base. As Lachinal puts it, it’s great to have a dude who knows how to blow stuff up on your crew.
According to the novelization, Statura was born in Garel and fought to liberate it from the First Order before being recruited by Leia. He has a background in applied sciences and worked as the Resistance’s commander of ship procurement and logistics before being promoted to admiral. No wonder he know what the blow up on a ship! And as a fun aside, the actor, Ken Leung was on Lost and acted in the third X-men movie.
Bazine Netal
Bazine Netal was the mercenary who informed the First Order of Finn and Rey’s location when they went to Maz’s place. Her appearance was pretty striking, especially her hardcore makeup- there are already tutorials out there that will help you achieve the look. But be warned- according to "The Perfect Weapon", an official tie-in short story starring Bazine, that black lipstick is lethal. Those who kiss this mercenary end up on the floor.
According to the story, Bazine is a master of disguise and she tries to care only about herself. Also (spoilers ahead) the reason she covers her head is someone burned her scalp- and she paid him back double by roasting him with a flamethrower. And it’s heavily implied that she’s the one who delivered the remains of that Darth Vader helmet to Kylo Ren. Since she’s clearly in good with First Order, we might be seeing more of her in the future. She’s played by Anna Brewster.
Snap Wexley
Snap is another of Poe’s fellow X-Wing pilots and he’s featured heavily in the tie-in novel Star Wars: Aftermath. His real name is Temmin and he hails from the planet Akiva. His parents served the Rebel Alliance, his father as a messenger for them and his mother as pilot respectively. When Snap was young, his father was arrested by the Imperial Forces after which his mother left him to join the rebels. Snap hated both sides as a result. He basically just made a little parts shop for himself, even creating his own killer robot. When his planet rose to fight the Empire, he eventually chose the Rebel’s side. His mother eventually returned to rescue him from some gangster goons and they evaded some Stormtroopers on a motorcycle. After this, Snap officially joined the Resistance as a pilot and got his nickname.
Snap’s actor, Greg Grunberg, is a favorite of J.J. Abrams, having appeared in many of his projects including Lost and Felicity. He was incredibly excited about getting his own action figure and tweeted to high heaven about it.
Sidon Ithano
This red fella voiced by David Acord really only sat at a table during the movie, but he was actually all over the tie-in merchandise. You can find bobbleheads of him galore and he’s fleshed out in the tie-in story “The Crimson Corsair and the Lost Treasure of Count Dooku”.
The “Crimson Corsair” is just one of the guy’s many nicknames- he’s also called “The Blood Buccaneer” and “The Red Raider”. We get it, the dude has a favorite color and it ain’t blood orange.
Ithano is apparently reputed as the best pirate in the Outer Rim. He’s said to be the strong and silent type, rarely bragging about his exploits. According to his short story, he recently tried to track down a ship full of the lightsaber crystals belonging to the Jedi from Clone Wars. He failed to find any crystals, but he rescued a clone trooper who had been taken by Dooku.
Considering the sheer amount of stuff about him, it seems likely that Ithano will play a role later in the movies. There’s certainly a lot of fanart of him.
Captain Phasma
Okay, she’s not as “minor” as these other chracters- she gets way more lines and her name is mentioned several times for one, but she plays a surprisingly small role in the movie considering how much she’s hyped up. We never even get to see her face. We don’t have much background on the commander of the First Order Stormtroopers, but we know she’s fiercely loyal to her cause and the tie-in novels show she was concerned about Finn’s pesky “empathy” from the beginning. Phasma was also originally going to be a dude, but in response to internet criticism, she was made to be Star Wars first major female villain, something her actress Gwendolyn Christie was very excited about.
The fans have embraced Phasma almost as much as another minor supporting villain, Bobba Fett, was embraced. An actual fashion designer made a dress based off the stylish concept art for Phasma’s outfit. Many articles have been written praising her as well. Let’s hope we actually get to see her fight in the next movie.
Sarco Plank
You only see Sarco Plank briefly in the background of one shot, but apparently he was originally going to have a much bigger role in the film. According to the Star Wars website, he’s an eyeless insect-type alien and a vicious scavenger, grave-robber and arms dealer who needs that helmet to survive in the alien atmosphere. He apparently dueled Luke Skywalker once. This adventure is fully expanded on in the tie-in story “The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure.”
Art by Phil Noto from The Weapon of a Jedi
Despite the fact he doesn’t even have a shot that focused on him, he’s featured heavily in the visual dictionary for the film, there’s a Vanity Fair sketch of him and he even has an action figure. Various articles speculate he was originally supposed to have a bigger role in the Jaaku sequence of the film. Perhaps he’ll become important later, considering his backstory with Luke.
FN-2199 aka
FN-2199 is the official call number of the Stormtrooper who dramatically yelled “TRAITOR” before attacking Finn. His hammy anger and very spin-tastic weapon use made him very popular with the fans, who dubbed him TR-8R and made several parody videos and image edits based around him. Especially notable is this one set to Dead or Alive’s You Spin Me Round (Like a Record). In fact, his popularity grew so much that he became an official meme.
Lucasfilm noticed his popularity and put out a story revealing his real “name” on the Star Wars website, which can also be seen in The Force Awakens prequel novel. He trained with Finn- in fact, he was part of the four man unit Finn was also part of! So that explains his angry personal reaction to his betrayal. Also, apparently he’s a redhead.
He was called “Nines” by his friends (which no longer include Finn. Clearly).
His main job is riot control and his ability to brutally squah uprisings is why he gets a cooler weapon than the other ‘troopers.
FN-2199 was voiced by David Acord, but his famous spinning was provided by seasoned stuntman Liang Yang.
FN-2003 aka
FN-2003's in there somewhere. Art by Phil Noto.
Yep, another Stormtrooper. This guy is the one who died and smeared Finn’s helmet with his blood in the opening part of the movie. Given Finn’s emotional reaction to his, it won’t surprise you to know they were friends. He was part of Finn’s squad and his nickname was “Slip”. Due to the fact he, ah, “slipped up a lot”. So sort of not surprising he died on his first mission. Finn was very protective of him and often rescued him during battle simulations, which causes Captain Phasma to reprimand Finn for coddling him too much. Sadly, Finn wasn’t able to rescue the poor sap in the real battle.
Despite his pitifulness, Slip isn’t as popular as Nines, perhaps because he doesn’t have any sick spinning skills (or any skills in general besides inspiring his friends with his death, the poor lamb). But you can find some fanart of him here and there.