Star Wars video games have had a plethora of different protagonists over the years, ranging from iconic canon characters like the original trilogy's core cast of rebel heroes, to beloved Legends characters that belong to their own stories. Each protagonist brings their own set of unique gameplay abilities, has their own character arc, and delivers a brand new story in the Star Wars universe, and while a lot of Kanan Jarrus' story has been told already, he'd still make the perfect Star Wars video game protagonist.
First introduced in Star Wars: Rebels, and retroactively shown in Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Kanan Jarrus is a Jedi on the run. Much like Cal Kestis, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ahsoka Tano, Kanan Jarrus narrowly escaped Order 66, and spent much of his life hiding from the Empire, watching its shadow grow quickly across the galaxy. Though fans already know where Kanan's story ends, there's plenty of story still left to explore, and that story would be perfectly suited for a Star Wars video game.
A Kanan Jarrus-Led Star Wars Game Could Be Great
Born Caleb Dume, Kanan was just a young Padawan when Darth Sidious initiated Order 66. Sensing danger through the Force, Kanan's master Depa Billaba sacrificed herself to save him, pushing him out of the way of the Clone troopers' blaster bolts. After a brief run-in with the genetically modified Bad Batch squad, Kanan manages to avoid capture during Order 66, and is eventually taken in by a smuggler named Janus Kasmir, who teaches him how to survive in the galaxy.
Over the next 10 years or so, Kanan loses his connection to the Force, believing it to be the best way to survive against the Empire and its Inquisitors. Kanan then meets a Twi'lek pilot named Hera Syndulla, who he discovers is part of a growing rebel cell. Against his better judgment, Kanan joins Hera's rebel team, and eventually, he finds a young Force-sensitive boy named Ezra Bridger. Kanan reluctantly agrees to train Ezra in the Jedi ways, and the two defeat the Grand Inquisitor. During a duel with Darth Maul, Kanan is blinded, and after a few months of training with a mysterious Force-being known as Bendu he is then able to see through the Force.
While fans of Star Wars: Rebels know where Kanan Jarrus' fate ultimately lies, there's still more than enough potential here for him to be the main playable protagonist of a Star Wars video game, and a particularly unique one at that. Most Star Wars games tend to stick to just one time period, albeit occasionally with a few brief flashbacks to flesh out the characters' backstory a little more. A Kanan Jarrus video game could take players through multiple eras of Star Wars, beginning with him as a Jedi Padawan during the Clone Wars, transitioning into his life as a smuggler, before retelling the events of Star Wars: Rebels from a new perspective.
Jumping through all of these different eras would also give fans a great deal of variation when it comes to gameplay. Players would start off as a younger Kanan with just a few basic Force powers, facing off against easy-to-defeat droids. Then during the Order 66 section, players would be forced to use more survival gameplay mechanics. As a smuggler, Kanan could then use third-person shooter mechanics, before players then get to play as the powerful Jedi Knight Kanan becomes during Rebels. The ever-evolving gameplay of a Kanan-led Star Wars game would be enough to separate it from the likes of the Star Wars Jedi series.