It’s May the Fourth, so here’s a Star Wars-related It’s Walky! anecdote!

In the early-to-mid ’00s, there seemed to be a general consensus that one of the bigger problems with the Star Wars prequels was that there were no normal-ass everyperson characters.  Everyone was a special kick-ass Jedi, or a Queen/Senator, or literally The Chosen One.  There were no Han Solos, no Landos, no ragtag team of rebel forces.  And here I was, in the middle of this zeitgeist, with a story about A Chosen One and superpowered commandos.

Except Jason!

Jason was normal.

Jason was my Han Solo, maybe?

And so I made a conscious choice to amp him up in this final battle.  Give him some gravitas, and not have him be there just to play second-fiddle to Walky and Sal and Joyce.  I mean, the story was too filled in at this point for it to be narratively satisfying for him to actually save the day, but I could draw a couple extra circles around him in highlighter.