This year a number of sources reported that a Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic film is in the works at Disney, with writer Laeta Kalogridis having penned a script for a single film. As avid Star Wars fans are aware, Knights of the Old Republic allows you to choose either a male or a female character at the start of the game and provides a plethora of options throughout to either help the galaxy (light side) or harm it (dark side). So who should play Revan, Carth and Bastila?
Ruth Wilson as Revan
Ruth Wilson has more than proved she has the acting chops to portray Revan’s fall to the dark side. It would be an interesting twist for her to play a role that is initially a hero but who becomes a villain later on. The character you play in KOTOR (Revan) starts as a mind wiped Sith lord that believes themselves to be a Republic soldier. It would be interesting to see Ruth Wilson portray a straight up hero who gradually becomes darker. Her charisma and acting ability would be a hand in glove fit with Jolee Bindo’s assessment of Revan “Everything that I can see about you is odd. Slightly off, as though my eyes are trying to trick me. Something… something is very dark about you.”
Chris Evans as Carth
For me no other actor will ever come close to showing Captain America’s manliness and decency as well as Chris Evans. The character of Carth in KOTOR is a good man who has been jaded by his experiences during the war. It would be a challenge I think for Chris Evans to portray this decent soldier who is twisted inside by a desire for revenge on his former commanding officer but who remains the moral centre of the team. More interesting still would be his relationship with Revan, as a female light sided Revan falls in love with Carth over the course of the game. It would be a fun challenge for Laeta Kalogridis to translate Carth and Revan’s flirting into a film, although part of me just wants to watch Chris Evans say Carth’s lines and for Ruth Wilson to pretend she’s not interested:
Sophie Hopkins as Bastila
Sophie Hopkins could provide a foil to Ruth Wilson’s Revan, playing the young and gifted Jedi Bastila Shan who is turned to the dark side by Darth Malak, the antagonist. Sophie Hopkins has shown in Class that she can play a grittier and darker character as well as a sweet-natured one which would be perfect for Bastila. If the film presents Bastila as a kind of Jedi exemplar but then subverts this by having her fall to the dark side, corrupting Revan as well, I think this could be a potentially very strong and interesting character arc. Now we get to the ending of the film.
In the dark side ending of KOTOR Revan accepts Darth Bastila’s offer of alliance, reclaiming her identity as Dark Lord of the Sith and slaughtering those of her companions who refuse to follow her. I think this would be a great subversion of films like Return of the Jedi which features a happy ending. The above video shows another ending to the game in which Carth persuades Revan to turn back to the light side in her final moments. I think Chris Evans as Carth would knock this scene into orbit (no pun intended) and it would be great to see Ruth Wilson wavering and finally choosing the light. The filmmakers would have to be careful that there wasn’t too much mood whiplash with Revan falling to the dark side, killing Malak and then being redeemed again but I think the actors I have suggested could carry this off without it seeming forced.
That’s what I’d like to see in the upcoming KOTOR film. What do you think? Should Revan be male or female? Dark side or light side? And who should play them? Please leave your comments below and may the Force be with you.
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