It’s Time For The Droids Of ‘Star Wars’ To Get Their Own Spin-Off
(Welcome toA Different Point of View, a column where we explore the supporting characters of theStar Warsuniverse and discuss why they deserve more time in the spotlight.)Out of all of the characters in theStar Warsgalaxy, no species gets a shorter shaft than the droids. Created to fill gaps in everything from manual labor to cultural translation, there are probably more droids than organic beings in George Lucas' universe. Yet for all their omnipresence,Star Warshas barely scratched the surface of what it truly means to have so many artificial life forms.Whether you seeStar Warsas science-fiction or science-fantasy, the apathy towards this huge chunk of the narrative weirds me out. After all, the foundational cornerstone of science-fiction asks whether or not constructs created by man have souls and aspirations. Teenaged Mary Shelley might not have known what a “robot” was when she created the sci-fi genre over a bored long weekend, but Frankenstein’s monster set into motion decades of questions that boil down to “What does it mean to be sentient?“The time has never been better forStar Warsto pop the hood and examine the long, horrifying history of the treatment of droids.
WHO ARE THEY?
Droids in the world of Lucasfilm take on as many forms as they do roles. From the beeping astromech droids to the bipedal protocol assistants and everything in between, droids are everywhere inStar Wars. They construct buildings and perform maintenance. They tend to the sick and injured. They raise children. No menial, manual, or dangerous task is beyond them.But for the purposes of this article, I’m going to narrow it down to the droids who know they’re droids. There’s the OG team of C-3PO and R2-D2. And for a while, they were the only cognizant droids of note, though fans loved the mysterious IG-88. Then along came BB-8 and Chopper and K-2SO and L3-37 and 0-0-0 and BT-1. Suddenly, the galaxy was awash with droids that clearly exhibit behaviors identical to self-aware organics. They all have something else in common, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
WHEN WERE THEY INTRODUCED?
It depends on which droid you’re talking about. Threepio and Artoo have been part of the gang since 1977. IG-88 joined the Sentient Squad™ in 1980. The rest are fairly new additions. BB-8 came along withThe Force Awakens, while Chopper was introduced inStar Wars Rebels. The sassy K-2SO came along withRogue OneandSologave us the tragic L3. Triple Zero and BT-1 are lesser known droids as they were created for theDarth Vadercomic that introduced the world to Doctor Aphra. Regardless, with each new entry of self-aware droid, Lucasfilm inadvertently scoops out more of the “they’re just machines” excuse that’s been exercised for years.
WHAT MAKES THEM FASCINATING?
WHAT STORIES COULD LUCASFILM TELL?
Anything at all that centers and acknowledges that droids are living beings. If you aren’t aware, IG-88is scheduled to appearin the upcoming live-actionStar WarsshowThe Mandaloriannext yearbut there are no details on if he will be a recurring character or merely a one-off Easter Egg for fans. I hope it is the former because there is a lot to unpack there. How do the other bounty hunters feel about a droid in their midst? Do they think IG-88 has an unfair advantage or that he brings down the prestige of the profession? Are there any deep thinkers in that question what a droid needs with money? Personally, I’d love to see IG-88 funneling his cash into a droid underground railroad, but that’s pie in the sky thinking.Acknowledging the sentience and subsequent enslavement of L3-37 would definitely be a welcome storyline.Solo: A Star Wars Storyspent the first half of the film hammering home that L3 is a loud proponent of Droid Rights and would rather die than feel she under the thrall of organic masters. The last act then cruelly murders her, rips her personality matrix out, and has the other droids of the Millennium Falcon distract her long enough to slave her mind to their operating system. The end result has L3, voiceless and defeated, sold to an organic that his not her erstwhile lover Lando, and forced to perform against her will for decades. Undoing the damage caused by this narrative would go a long way towards not retroactively feeling gross every time the Falcon comes on-screen.I’m sure there are dozens of other tales Lucasfilm could tell with droids, either utilizing characters already in the canon or creating new droids to pick up the baton. Either way, with the number of self-aware robotics entering a galaxy far, far away each year,Star Warsneeds to deal with the narrative fallout of a universe with a purposefully suppressed class of creatures.
