The Most Diverse Fascists You’ll Ever Meet

This is a reprint of the feature essay from Issue #78 of Exploits, our collaborative cultural diary in magazine form. If you like what you see, buy it now for $2, or subscribe to never miss an issue (note: Exploits is always free for subscribers of Unwinnable Monthly). 

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When it comes to inclusive representation in major franchises, it’s always a gamble. You might get lucky, like with IDW’s Transformers run that even had positive portrayals of gender transition. Or you might end up with whatever is going on at Lucasfilm at this point, because what seemed justifiable via explanation at one point has fully eclipsed into a worryingly problematic new trope of the new Star Wars timeline.

Whether it’s Trilla, Terisa, Varko, Ciena, Aphra or countless others, they all have one thing in common: they are all incredibly diverse characters, some even boasting compelling stories . . . yet all of them put these characters on the side of villainy. It doesn’t matter if you’re LGBTQ+, BIPOC, or even just differently religious – most Star Wars stories are almost always going to stick you with the fascists.

Fan favorite Chelli Aphra started out as Darth Vader’s henchwoman, while also romantically entangled with a then-loyal Imperial Magna Tolvan. Sure, eventually Magna joined the Rebellion, but conveniently Aphra never does. She’s still, somehow, always serving some kind of villainous force for increasingly contrived reasons.

Here’s the thing though – there is some precedent to let some diverse characters be the villain. I know plenty of friends who are frustrated they can only expect to be depicted as a “model citizen” version of themselves or some dated caricature. If there’s nuance to be had, then sure, let’s have some diverse villains; but Lucasfilm rarely makes room for this nuance.

Taken to its logical endpoint, Trilla Suduri might be a member of the Imperial Inquisition, but she’s a fascinating woman of color with a rich backstory that led to this point in her life. Shame then that she gets killed off for the bland protagonist’s development instead! While modern Star Wars’ obsession with killing off characters is its own kettle of fish, it spills over here, again and again

This has become, seemingly, Lucasfilm’s get out of jail free card. They get to flaunt diversity but without really taking the risk. Typically, the villains get killed off even faster than new supporting characters, so if the manchildren of the internet freak out, they can just move on, leaving the actors and creators to deal with any backlash, as they have more than once before.

It gets more absurd when you consider how POC characters like Finn also start out serving the villains. When it was just Finn, you could argue it was a critique of the military industrial complex exploiting minority children, but now it’s a pattern. The sole YA romance novel of the franchise, which stars a rural downtrodden Black woman and an aristocratic white man, decided that the pampered white guy joins the Rebellion.

Now, I am white as a Ritz cracker before it gets baked. So, if I’m noticing this, then I can only begin to imagine how uncomfortable this can be for others who otherwise can find themselves in these characters. Sure, we’ve had rare exceptions, as with Andor, yet the fact I’m bringing them up as exceptional deviations speaks to how far off base this has gotten. It’s great Diego Luna can be a complex revolutionary, but that doesn’t mean no one else can.

We can’t keep praising these backhanded compliment roles. Call them the Empire, The First Order, or whatever, but they’re becoming the consolation prize slush table. If Lucasfilm thinks this is how they’ll avoid controversy, I beg to kriffing differ. The bigots will always have their pitchforks raised, but Lucasfilm could be raising up diverse voices instead of jamming them into the boots of Space Nazis.