Luke Skywalker Didn't Have The Most Screen Time In The Skywalker Saga By A Large Margin

There's been a considerable amount of discourse over the nine primary "Star Wars" films in recent years. However you may feel about the sprawling sci-fi narrative George Lucas began more than four decades ago (now dubbed "The Skywalker Saga," to differentiate from other Star Wars media like "The Mandalorian" and "Solo: A Star Wars Story"), there's simply no arguing that those films delivered more big screen thrills than your average tentpole property. They created just as many memorable characters and creature creations, too, with Lucas and subsequent helmersplacing the likes of droids, Jedis, Wookies, and Sarlaccs at the forefront of pop culture consciousness. 

Over the course of its three trilogy run, "The Skywalker Saga" conjured almost too many characters to keep track of, save for the central players whose tragic and triumphant lives exist at the heart of the story. Still, the tales of Luke (Mark Hamill), Leia (Carrie Fisher), Han (Harrison Ford), Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor), and the rest of the "Star Wars" gang were so often unfolding at opposite ends of the galaxy far, far away that they were regularly battling for screen time in the franchise. 

That fact begs a question — namely, of which character from "The Skywalker Saga" appeared the most over the nine-movie series. And yes, the answer to that question is one of the Skywalkers, though you might be surprised to learn it's not multi-film veteran Luke.

For those not up on their "Skywalker Saga" lore, there aren't a lot of other Skywalkers at play in "Star Wars" films. And even though Rey (Daisy Ridley) took on the moniker in the franchise closing "The Rise of Skywalker," it's already been revealed she is indeed a Palpatine. That pretty much leaves Luke, Leia, their big bad Sith Lord daddy Anakin (played by Jake Lloyd, Hayden Christensen, James Earl Jones, and David Prowse), and Leia's son Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) as the only major players bleeding Skywalker blood in the saga. 

If the tally in a recent Reddit thread dedicated to character screen times in the "Star Wars" movies is accurate, Anakin easily bested his progeny when it came to screen time.

Just to be clear on one obvious point of contention: it appears said Reddit thread did combine Anakin's screen time with that of his Sith alter ego, Darth Vader. That means the elder Skywalker earned the crown for both total amount of screen time, and total number of appearances in the franchise. More surprising is that the screen time showdown wasn't even close, with Anakin-Vader appearing in 161:30 minutes of the franchise's 849 minutes of story. That put him ahead of the second place Luke (who tallied 132:15 minutes himself) by almost 30 full minutes.

Given that the prequel trilogy is essentially dedicated to Anakin's tragic turn to the Dark Side, and the original trilogy then features him as the primary villain, it's not totally shocking he garnered the most screen time in the franchise. But we're betting most folks would've put their money on Luke.