Benicio Del Toro Is Just the Latest in a Long Line ofStar WarsHacker Characters

Yesterday , EW broke the newsthat Benicio Del Toro ’s Last Jedi eccentric is a “ slicer ” that Finn ( John Boyega ) and Rose ( Kelly Marie Tran ) are tracking down . Despite the fact that you may never have get wind the word slicer in a Star Wars movie , they have a long and important history in that universe .

First of all , it ’s singular that the condition slicer — a shortening of computer code - slicer — survived to be used in the new canon at all . It ’s the Star Wars eq of a hacker and it first popped up in Heir to the Empire . ( Although , to be fairish , so much of the Star Wars universe of discourse had its first appearance in that book . ) And Heir to the Empire , despite being the book that kicked off the EU and rejuvenate Star Wars for a circumstances of people , is technically no retentive canon . Moreover , there ’s been aconcerted effortto clear out parallelisms like this from the Star Wars vernacular .

Second of all , even if you have n’t heard the word before , you ’ve decidedly heard about some of the most illustrious slicers in Star Wars chronicle : the Bothans who acquired the Death Star II plans , and many of whom died to bring us this data . spy are mention a muckle , but the information itself was take from Imperial computers by Bothan slicer . This incident is so famous — despite the fact that the Emperor wanted that entropy leaked — that it was once a patch point in the old EU that the Bothan stereotype was that they were all slicer . ( I would n’t have object to Del Toro ’s disk jockey being a Bothan , by the way . It would be overnice to have another important non - human character . Plus , he ’s purportedly “ the best in the galaxy ; ” what I would n’t give for him to be one of the few Bothans who did n’t break . )

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

relieve for slicer droids , most slicers we ’ve fall across before have either been the anti - Empire crusading sort or the unity working on the calamitous securities industry for basically anyone who could pay them . The former kind of slicer render up in the Book as either the Star Wars equivalent of a white hat cyberpunk or people who unite the Rebellion / New Republic out of a antipathy for the Empire . Grinder ( a nickname ; he was really a Bothan name Eurrsk Thri’ag because , again , Bothans = slicers ) appear in Aaron Allston ’s Wraith Squadron as a very respectable , very arrogant , and very mischievous slicer who bechance to work for the New Republic . Another Wraith name Castin Donn was the slicer responsible for showing Coruscant the plosion of the 2d Death Star before Imperial propaganda could strip it up , conduct to the toppling of the Emperor statue that was included in the Special Edition of Return of the Jedi . Sabine Wren in the TV show Rebels has some slicing skills .

The money - based , morally - gray-haired slicer toss off up most often in the Star Wars telecasting games — which makes sense , since they are good sources of information and will allow for it regardless of which side you ’ve chosen to be on . ( Seriously , though , theslicer pageon Wookieepedia is full of video recording game characters . ) mostly , what they have in vernacular is a willingness to reach over information or technology to whomever can buy it . It ’s the Star Wars following the world-wide fiction estimation of hacker as varlet , rather than simply the name for someone with a particular skill exercise set that could be any eccentric of individual . All slicers , of all kinds , tend towards haughtiness . There ’s every chance DJ is one of many in the coltsfoot who depict themselves as the good .

That seems in line with what we know about DJ so far . John Boyegadescribedthe slicer ’s purpose in the story as “ We just need a codebreaker and he ’s the best in the galaxy . regrettably , he ’s very chancy and only in it for financial gain . He does n’t fight for any side . ” The fact that he ’s morally grey , that characters from the Resistance go to him for assist , and that they bump him on a luxury world ( in this case , a gambling casino on Canto Bight ) has drawn comparisons to Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back . And , yeah , a lot of how he ’s been talked about does seem more in furrow with how moon-curser and former contrabandist are described than slicer .

William Duplessie

Boyega further said DJ “ has distinct impression . The Resistance bombs the First Order one daylight , the First Order bombs the Resistance on another . It ’s an ongoing war that will never terminate . For him , he ’s strain to benefit off of that — which does n’t make him the person you need to believe . ” That all sounds , actually , a bit more like how Talon Karrde was presented back in Heir to the Empire , which also introduce slicer . Karrde was introduced as the large smuggler in the line of work , who put a premium on collect information and was willing , at least early on , to sell to any side .

Karrde also had in his employment the very first slicer we ever meet in any contingent : Zakarisz Ghent . First of all , that is a classically ludicrous Star Wars name . Second , Ghent fits neither of the spacious groups . He mold for Karrde for whomever pay , yes , but he mostly just likes codification . He ’s oblivious to everything else around him , to the stop where him even notice that the Empire is doing anything is a star sign that thing have gotten pretty bad . He shows up again , much later in the EU , look to practice his acquisition for more than a challenge or because his boss asked . alternatively , it ’s because he need to right a wrongfulness . A wrong that he ’s only see about , too , and not one he was involved in have . It ’s really a more interesting arc than the classic “ smuggler with a heart of gold ” ones that seem to plague Star Wars .

I almost wish DJ was more Ghent - like than Karrde or Lando - alike . It would impart a new energy to the report . That said , DJ is joining a long line of self-important , brilliant , somewhat weird slicers that have long populated Star Wars . FromKiphto Ghent to to Castin to Grinder and so on , DJ has quite a lineage to live up to .

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