Bret Devereaux

The beauty and tragedy of Biggs Darklighter giving his life to protect Luke is really understated in the film. #StarWars

I've always found it really striking how the original trilogy, compared to other action movies, works to include non-hero rebel casualties, particularly A New Hope, were most of those losses have names and hints of personality.

Exactly! It makes a beautifully sparse first film hit even harder.

LIke, in most action movies, you just nameless 'guys falling down in the background' whereas A New Hope says, "This is Biggs, he's Luke's childhood friend; this is Red Leader, he's heroic and calm under fire...they die anyway because that happens in war."