Iconic Star Wars Characters Luke Skywalker Never Meets

The Star Wars universe is pretty extensive, but even though it's crawling with characters, almost all of them have crossed paths with Luke Skywalker. That makes sense, of course, considering he's the protagonist in the original trilogy and plays a significant role in the sequel trilogy. And apart from his self-imposed exile, Luke socializes quite a bit, participates in several battles, and visits over a dozen different planets. So inevitably, he would share scenes with just about every character ... but not all of them.

Sure, Luke fought Jabba the Hutt, met Ewoks, rolled with Lando Calrissian, and lived with his distant relatives. Heck, Luke even technically shared a scene with Leia's foster father, Bail Organa, when he was an infant. But there are actually quite a few iconic characters that Luke never met, from annoying aliens to some of the franchise's biggest heroes, even though they were alive at the same time as Luke. As a quick note, with so many books and comics, there's a gigantic extended universe in the Star Wars franchise where our hero runs into characters he never encounters in the movies (although a lot of it isn't canon anymore). Here, we're focusing primarily on the characters Luke never met in the movies, but we'll mention a few details from the extended universe.

Warning, there are spoilers ahead!

We know, we know. Calling Jar Jar Binks an "iconic" character makes some Star Wars fans cringe, but whether he's remembered fondly or not, he's a character all Star Wars fans know. After all, Jar Jar Binks played a significant role in his first appearance in The Phantom Menace, where he called upon his fellow Gungans to help the citizens of Naboo face an army of droids. In the following two films, he got involved in politics and committed possibly the biggest blunder in all of Star Wars — convincing the Senate to give emergency powers to Palpatine, which was a key moment in the rise of the tyrannical Empire.

After Revenge of the Sith, little was heard of our clumsy Gungan, although it's been said that he was exiled from his people for accidentally helping the Empire rise to power and that he took to the streets as a performer, living into the days of Luke. But despite going on adventures with Luke's father and helping Luke's mother in politics, Jar Jar Binks never crossed paths with Luke himself. With the death of Luke and the supposed close of the Skywalker Saga, it seems the two will never meet. Luke probably would've befriended Jar Jar despite the Gungan being a bit of a buffoon, but let's be honest here — Luke was spared.

In 2018's Solo: A Star Wars Story, it's revealed that Darth Maul survived his supposed death in The Phantom Menace — you know, that scene where Obi-Wan is a total boss, jumps over Maul, and cuts him in half. Apparently, despite losing his lower half and free-falling into a bottomless pit, the Sith apprentice lived on and went into hiding for several years. If Star Wars has proven anything, it's that falling into a bottomless pit is a terrible way to try and kill someone because they always seem to survive.

Of course, the survival of Darth Maul isn't terribly shocking to those who watched the animated Star Wars series, which covers the narrative a bit. And not only does Maul survive, but he lives into the years that Luke Skywalker comes onto the scene. When Maul appears in the movie Solo, Luke is about nine years old, but while it's unclear what becomes of the bad guy, he never crosses paths with Luke. Well, one quick note on that. In the comic Star Wars Tales #17, Luke deals with a ghostly Darth Maul. However, this isn't part of the Disney canon, but if you're nitpicky, let's just say Luke never meets Darth Maul in this life, which is a shame because the two would've likely given us an epic lightsaber duel.

Believe it or not, Luke actually killed this guy despite the two never meeting. Wilhuff Tarkin was a ruthless and ambitious military man who rose in the ranks of the Empire, thanks to his favor with the Emperor and Darth Vader. Tarkin is the Grand Moff, which is somewhat like the Empire's version of a chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and he's granted the authority to operate the Death Star in A New Hope.

This is the bad guy who holds Princess Leia hostage and promises her to spare the planet Alderaan as long as she gives up the location of the rebel base. After Leia provides the (false) information, Tarkin immediately commands his underlings to destroy Alderaan with the Death Star. So yeah, he's a bit of a jerk. At the same time, Tarkin commands an intelligent and dignified presence, befitting an older man who's transitioning out of the military and into more political positions.

Luke is among the pilots who assault the first Death Star, and he's ultimately the hero who destroys it despite impossible odds. Tarkin was on the space station when it happened, but Luke and Tarkin never met face to face, even though Luke sent him to kingdom come.

Amilyn Holdo is a vice admiral in the Resistance and plays a key role in The Last Jedi. And Luke, well, he's a famous and well-respected hero among Resistance fighters. But even though they're connected to the same cause and are both close to Leia, these two never interact. The main reason they never meet each other is that they belong to different plotlines at opposite ends of the galaxy. Luke is in exile on Ahch-To, wrestling with mixed feelings about rejoining the fight and also training Rey. Meanwhile, Holdo must take command of one of the last ships in the Resistance while Leia recovers from a severe injury.

Holdo heroically dies before having a chance to meet Luke. After evacuating as many personnel as possible, Holdo stays behind on the ship alone and decides to hold off the First Order. She turns the ship around and points it directly at the bad guy's most powerful craft and enters lightspeed like a badass. It cuts the First Order ship in half, destroying several enemy vessels but ending her own life. So yeah, now it's especially hard for Luke and Holdo to hang out.

However, Mark Hamill teased his Instagram followers that he had a scene with Holdo actor Laura Dern, but the scene was deleted. Was there a moment where Holdo and Luke somehow met? Fans may never know, but if such a scene existed, it never made it to the final cut.

Of all the characters listed here, this one is perhaps the most surprising. Finn is a main character in the most recent Star Wars trilogy, playing a lovable ex-stormtrooper who struggles between cowardice and bravery. Both Finn and Luke get quite a bit of screen time during these three films, particularly in The Last Jedi, but the two technically never meet, despite having many mutual friends. This makes sense when you consider that both characters belong to very separate plotlines. Luke is in self-imposed exile while Finn is helping the Resistance on the other side of the galaxy.

We say the characters never "technically" met because there is a moment (if you want to call it a moment) where Finn and Luke nearly cross paths. Their respective plotlines collide at the end of The Last Jedi when the First Order corners the Resistance. Finn is at the battle, and Luke is also present ... but only as a Force projection. In the scene, Finn spots Luke, but Luke never sees Finn. And it's hardly the time to shake hands and start a conversation. We imagine the two would've made great friends, and their relationship could've been something similar to what Luke had with Obi-Wan, only flipped, but alas, the two never had the chance.

Armitage Hux, like most military leaders in the First Order, is highly ambitious and angry when he doesn't get his way. In The Force Awakens, Hux serves as a general under Snoke and often butts heads with Kylo Ren, who's his greatest competition when it comes to climbing the military ranks. Plus, Hux is the man who delivers that Hitler-like speech to legions of troops right before wiping out millions of people with Star Destroyer. 

As a result, you might think that Hux is such an evil and notable person in the First Order that Luke would one day meet him face to face, but it never happens. As we all know, Luke really isn't into fighting the First Order during The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. Basically, Luke lives in exile during the new trilogy, then very briefly leaves (as a Force projection) his island hideaway and dies soon after, so he never meets Hux.

Having said that, Hux does briefly see Luke's Force projection at the Battle of Crait. In one of the most badass movie moments ever, Hux and Kylo Ren are leading troops against the Resistance when the spectral form of Luke shows up ... only the bad guys don't know this is a Force projection. Ren commands every gun to shoot Luke, and after a massive amount of gunfire, Hux halts the excessive firepower, saying, "Do you think you got him?" But it's hard to kill someone who isn't physically there. However, Luke never sees Hux or learns that he was at the battle that day, and soon after, Luke goes off into the Jedi afterlife.

For those who don't know, Ahsoka Tano hails from the Star Wars animated movie and Clone Wars TV series. Her story takes many twists and turns, but she lives into the days of Luke. So it's a crime that Ahsoka Tano and Luke Skywalker never teamed up because they would've been an amazing duo. Tano could've possibly trained Luke to become a Jedi, or Luke may have used Tano's help when starting an academy for the new Jedi Order. Although, they probably would've had to work through some hard conversations, considering Tano used to be the Padawan of Anakin Skywalker and has mixed feelings about the Jedi Order.

Interestingly, Tano makes a very small appearance in The Rise of Skywalker ... well, at least her voice is in the movie. When Rey is about to defeat Palpatine, she gathers strength from all the Jedi who came before her, such as Mace Windu and Yoda, and among the voices is Ahsoka Tano's. And according to the 2019 novel Star Wars: The Secrets of the Jedi, Luke chronicled a history of the Jedi in a personal journal before becoming one with the Force. He writes about Tano, but there's no mention of the two ever meeting in the flesh.

Rose works as maintenance personnel in the Resistance, but she ends up joining the fight a bit as the new trilogy progresses, and she's eventually promoted to a leadership position by Leia. Of course, it isn't all sunshine and roses for, uh, Rose. In The Last Jedi, she's traumatized by the death of her sister, and she's also Finn's love interest ... although that doesn't work out in the end.

Despite having mutual friends with Luke and fighting for the same cause, the two never meet up. Similar to Finn, the two nearly encounter one another when Luke uses his Force projection to distract the First Order during the Battle of Crait. However, Rose is already unconscious at that point, and Luke doesn't notice Rose on the battlefield. If they ever had the chance to converse, the two certainly would have a lot to chat about — both of them come from humble beginnings and lost family members to war.

Luke may have battled and killed many stormtroopers, but Phasma was never one of them. Phasma is, frankly, an awesome villain who deserved more screen time. Even though she's only a stormtrooper captain, she somehow feels like she's so much more. It's partly because of her shiny silver suit and personalized weapons, and it's partly her cold, commanding presence.

Phasma is introduced gruesomely in The Force Awakens as her very first act on-screen is carrying out a massacre. She asks Kylo Ren about a group villagers, and he orders her to kill them all, and Phasma has no problem with that whatsoever. Afterward, she immediately scorns Finn for taking off his helmet and commands him to get his blaster fixed, which was never broken. He just couldn't bring himself to kill those people. This is the slaughter that causes Finn to rethink his loyalty to the First Order, which begins a rivalry between him and Phasma, ultimately culminating in Finn killing her in The Last Jedi.

Phasma is one of several First Order personnel trying to hunt down the exiled Luke Skywalker, but she never encounters him. In fact, in The Last Jedi, Phasma dies before Luke comes out of exile. If the two faced off, we're confident a seasoned Jedi master could easily best a measly, albeit talented, stormtrooper. Still, it would've been a cool battle to watch.

Conan Antonio Motti, better known as Admiral Motti, is that argumentative warmonger who Darth Vader chokes in A New Hope. Earlier in the movie, the Rebellion may or may not have acquired important information on the Death Star that could possibly lead to its destruction. Now, the admirals of the Empire have gathered to discuss their plan, and Motti is an intense advocate of using the Death Star. As he says, "Any attack made by the Rebels against this station would be a useless gesture, no matter what technical data they've obtained. This station is now the ultimate power in the universe! I suggest we use it."

Luke probably would've had a few words with this jerk if he'd had the chance, but he never had the displeasure of getting into it with Admiral Motti. Luke was possibly on the Death Star at the same time as Motti when he was rescuing Princess Leia, but they're never in the same hallway at the same time. Later in the movie, Luke blows up the Death Star with Motti on it, but the two characters never share a scene together. If Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine wanted to try a different tactic to convert Luke to the Dark Side, they should've just locked Motti and Luke into a room together. Even Luke in all his good nature would've angrily Force-choked that guy eventually.

Star Wars fans continue to jokingly (and maybe not so jokingly) argue about who shot first, Han or Greedo. But one thing is for sure, Luke was certainly not involved because he never crosses paths with the bug-eyed bounty hunter. Greedo appeared in the original Star Wars movie as a bounty hunter working for Jabba the Hutt, who put a bounty on Han Solo that Greedo intends to capitalize on. Right before Solo leaves Tatooine with Luke and Obi-wan, Greedo draws his weapon on Solo, forcing him to sit in a corner of a cantina. Realizing the danger he's in, Han Solo subtly unholsters his weapon and shoots Greedo dead.

Despite Luke and Greedo working on the same planet, and not too far from one another, the two never run into each other. Naturally, a farm boy like Luke wouldn't cross paths with a dangerous criminal like Greedo. Since Greedo died, the two will never meet, but it makes viewers wonder what would've happened if Greedo played his cards differently that day or if Luke and Obi-Wan had noticed that Greedo pulled Han aside in the cantina. Given Luke's undeveloped character at this point in his story, Luke probably would've been unsettled by Greedo and relied on Obi-Wan's interference to save the day, but we'll never know.