I’m no expert, but I suspect Wedge Antilles may be one of the most underrated characters in the entire Star Wars canon.
The original three films were my favorite movies growing up. I must have watched the whole trilogy dozens of times over, but I didn’t even realize Wedge was a recurring character until I re-watched them with my own children. I’d thought “Wedge” was a call sign or something.
But no, the Wedge in A New Hope that makes the run on the Death Star with Luke (and saves his butt from a TIE fighter) is the same character who flies into the second Death Star with Lando Calrissian in Return of the Jedi (after saving a bunch of other pilots’ butts from TIE fighters)–not to mention his feats on Hoth. What a freaking badass!
Maybe the reason I didn’t notice sooner is because I didn’t pay as much attention to the characters in my stories back then. (It may have also had something to do with the fact that the spaceships were one of my favorite parts of those films–often irrespective of what they were actually doing, let alone who was flying them!) His characterization is understated enough that it would have been easy for me to miss. But he really is an actual character! He doesn’t have a ton of dialogue, but we have enough to tell he’s brave, modest, calm under pressure, supportive of his squadmates, and has excellent tactical sense, in addition to being an ace pilot.
…That’s it, that’s the whole post. Sorry, I just wanted to gush about my new geek crush for a bit. See you tomorrow!
In Search of Secrets 