After J.J. Abrams introduced the new trilogy of Star Wars, Rian Johnson came in to provide an ambitious second chapter to the story. Though The Last Jedi was met with some backlash from vocal fans who felt it betrayed aspects of this universe, there are many that consider it to be one of the best Star Wars movies ever made.
The Last Jedi continued to explore the new main characters of this sequel trilogy while also revisiting some of the original icons. There are a lot of surprises with how certain characters were used and even some unexpected returns. But which characters had the most screen time in The Last Jedi and which were underused?
Many suspected the mysterious character of Maz Kanata would be a new Yoda-like figure for Rey. However, in The Force Awakens, she offers more questions than answers and her appearance in The Last Jedi is more of a cameo.
When looking for a codebreaker, the Resistance reaches out to Maz who is in the midst and a gunfight. All she can do is send them in search of a master codebreaker before disappearing from the movie.
After spending most of The Force Awakens powered off, R2-D2 does get a little more to do in this movie, but he's still pushed to the side for the most part. R2 accompanies Rey to seek out Luke and shares a nice reunion with his former owner.
Apart from his connection with Luke, and a nice callback to his original Leia message, there just isn't a lot of R2 here. Still, it is nice to see the iconic droid pop up for even a little while.
Rose's sister Paige is introduced in the movie's thrilling opening sequence as one of the Resistance members aboard the bomber ship. Though she doesn't last very long, she manages to make a big impression.
With the other bombers destroyed, Paige's ship is the only chance they have to destroy to Dreadnaught ship. As the ship explodes around her, Paige uses her dying moments to hit the switch and let the bombs fall in a truly beautiful moment.
After a lot of hype and a cool-looking costume, Captain Phasma turned out to have very little to do in The Force Awakens. The Last Jedi may have improved upon that a little bit, but it also cemented that this character was just not going to be important.
Phasma only shows up near the end of the movie when Finn and Rose sneak aboard the First Order ship. Her plans to execute them are cut short when she gets in a fight with Finn that leads to her pretty solid death scene.
One of the biggest surprises in The Last Jedi was the return of Yoda. Not only did the wise and iconic Jedi master make an appearance, but they used a puppet just as they did in the original trilogy.
Yoda's appearance comes after Rey leaves Luke to rejoin the Resistance and a frustrated Luke decides to burn down the Jedi library. Though it is a brief appearance, it is an impactful one as Yoda tells Luke just what he needs to hear at that moment and convinces him to learn from his past failures.
Following his defeat at the hands of Rey in The Force Awakens, Kylo Ren goes through a lot of changes in The Last Jedi. He begins to lose faith in the First Order and forms an unexpected bond with Rey, which leads to some of the best moments in the movie.
We learn more about Kylo's backstory with Luke and we see him struggle with his own path. His Force connection with Rey, their brief moment of joining together, and Kylo's abrupt turn back to evil provide some great moments for the character. Plus, he goes shirtless which is also memorable.
While most of the new cast was already established from The Force Awakens, Rian Johnson decided to add a new member to the team for his own movie. Rose Tico is a Resistance member and one of the purest and most caring people in the Star Wars universe.
She totally believes in their cause and helping out the less fortunate. This takes her on an adventure with Finn to find a master codebreaker who can help them disable the tracking device the First Order is using to hunt them. Quite surprisingly, she becomes the emotional core of the story.
After being the lead hero alongside Rey in the first movie, Finn is somewhat pushed to a supporting role, though he still has quite a bit of screen time. Finn is involved in the subplot about finding the codebreaker and saving the Resistance fleet.
Some fans felt that Finn's storyline was a waste of time in the overall movie and certain aspects just didn't work. However, it does help to explore some other parts and ideologies within the Star Wars universe while also cementing the kind of hero Finn had become.
After not even getting a single line of dialogue in The Force Awakens, Luke Skywalker is finally brought into the story of the new trilogy. However, the path Rian Johnson chose to take Luke on was a controversial one.
After being told Luke exiled himself and abandoned the Resistance, Johnson explores how Luke has changed as a Jedi and his refusal to leave exile. He mentors Rey but is wary of her because of what happened to Ben Solo. In the end, Luke gets an epic moment facing down with First Order and an emotional death scene that worked better for some than others.
Just as with The Force Awakens, Rey is given center stage to continue her journey of becoming a Jedi. After tracking down Luke, we see their tense relationship develop as he teaches her about the Force and she tries to convince him to return.
Rey's relationship with Kylo also grows as they reach out to each other with the Force. This leads to the epic confrontation in Snoke's throne room and Rey learning the truth about her parents. Once again, she cements herself as the most compelling character of this new trilogy.
