When George Lucas wrote and directed the Star Wars prequel trilogy, the backlash he faced from fans makes the backlash faced by Kathleen Kennedy and Disney for the sequels look like a walk in the park. But at least Lucas’ trilogy followed a singular vision, telling a clearly defined story from beginning to end that added to the groundwork laid by the original trilogy and fleshed out the saga of the Skywalkers. The same can’t be said of the sequel trilogy.
Lucas made a number of missteps with the prequels – hence the backlash – and as a result, the trilogy has some iconic characters and some that are widely hated.
10 Best: Obi-Wan Kenobi
“Hello there.” In the age of sequels, prequels, and spin-offs, a lot of actors are being tasked with playing a role that another actor made famous at a different point in their life. Ewan McGregor’s younger incarnation of Obi-Wan Kenobi is one of the greatest examples of this.
McGregor didn’t set out to simply imitate Alec Guinness or step on his toes, but he did recapture the spirit of Guinness’ performance while putting his own stamp on the character.
9 Worst: Jar Jar Binks
Apparently, Jar Jar Binks is George Lucas’ favorite Star Wars character. To Jar Jar’s credit, he was created to appeal to the children in the audience and, for the most part, kids loved the flatulent Gungan’s antics. Ahmed Best did a terrific job playing the character, but Jar Jar is a weak spot in the trilogy.
If the “Darth Jar Jar” theory has any merit, and Lucas nixed a twist revealing Jar Jar to be the Sith mastermind behind everything, then that’s a real shame, because it would’ve subverted the audience’s expectations in a story whose ending was revealed in 1977.
8 Best: Mace Windu
Samuel L. Jackson is one of the greatest actors in the world, and he fit as seamlessly into the Star Wars universe as he fits into the Quentin Tarantino universe. Mace Windu is one of the most powerful Jedi who ever lived. He’s Yoda’s most trusted confidante.
Windu is integral to the prequel trilogy. The Battle of Geonosis is instigated by an appearance by Windu. Anakin turns to the dark side when he’s forced to choose between Windu and Palpatine.
7 Worst: Nute Gunray
After a few different alien races have been introduced in The Phantom Menace, an unfortunate pattern begins to show: almost all of them adhere to racist stereotypes. Nute Gunray is one of the first to be introduced.
A ruthless Neimoidian businessman, Gunray has been widely recognized as an Asian caricature. He just sort of potters around for the entire trilogy before being unceremoniously executed by the newly anointed Sith Lord Darth Vader on Mustafar.
6 Best: Qui-Gon Jinn
Qui-Gon Jinn only appears in The Phantom Menace, but Liam Neeson made a huge impression on Star Wars fans with a performance that encapsulates the spirit of the Jedi. The master who trained Obi-Wan and insisted on training Anakin, Qui-Gon is effectively responsible for the tragedy of Darth Vader.
Of course, Qui-Gon’s most iconic scene is the climactic “Duel of the Fates” sequence in which he and Obi-Wan take on Darth Maul. Qui-Gon’s death is one of the most heartbreaking in the entire saga.
5 Worst: Boss Nass
Boss Nass is the ruler of the Gungans in The Phantom Menace. He appears alongside Padmé and Anakin and Obi-Wan in the final shot of the movie, seemingly setting up the Gungans for a major role going forward. Then, after the backlash to Jar Jar, the Gungans were pretty much purged from the Star Wars universe like the Jedi, to the point that the word “yousa” appearing in The Mandalorian was a big deal.
So, it’s unclear what Boss Nass’ role was originally going to entail. But it doesn’t really matter, because he’s a one-note character. He speaks like the “You’re fireeeeed!” guy from The Simpsons, and has about as much depth and pathos as him, too.
4 Best: Sheev Palpatine
Ian McDiarmid had already nailed his portrayal of Emperor Palpatine at the height of his Sith powers in the original trilogy, but he was presented with a unique acting challenge in the prequel trilogy, because Palpatine is a seemingly harmless politician until Revenge of the Sith.
McDiarmid did a terrific job of bringing a deceptive campness to Palpatine. He’s one of the only actors who can find nuance and subtlety in George Lucas’ dialogue.
3 Worst: Watto
Another prequel character who’s been identified as a racial caricature, Watto is the junk dealer who enslaves both Anakin and his mother Shmi on Tatooine.
With a hooked nose, thick accent, and unscrupulous business methods, many critics have accused Watto of being an anti-Semitic stereotype. In Attack of the Clones, he has a beard and wears a hat that looks like a kippah.
2 Best: Anakin Skywalker
It was a bold decision to begin the origin story of the most iconic villain in movie history with that villain as an adorable nine-year-old nerd, but it certainly provided an intriguing hook for the trilogy and Jake Lloyd gave an incredible performance for a child actor.
When Hayden Christensen took over as Anakin when he was nearing the end of his Jedi training, his performance initially suffered from wooden delivery of admittedly poorly written dialogue. With the stronger writing and character work in Revenge of the Sith, Christensen gave a much stronger performance. His transformation into Vader was believable.
1 Worst: Padmé Amidala
A strong performance by Natalie Portman and a handful of Clone Wars storylines have just about redeemed Padmé Amidala in the eyes of Star Wars fans, but the character was seriously underserved by the prequel trilogy. In The Phantom Menace, she gets a great introduction as a fierce monarch who fights on the frontlines with her soldiers, but also exhibits some dodgy overtones when she falls in love with a nine-year-old boy.
In Attack of the Clones, she gets some truly terrible romantic scenes with Anakin, but also some awesome action in the final battle. In Revenge of the Sith, she mopes around for the entire movie, having resigned from both ruling Naboo and being a Senator, until she dies of sadness. The mother of Luke and Leia deserved a much better arc.