Deaths We'll Probably See In Episode VIII
Star Wars might not be a death-obsessed gorefest like Game Of Thrones, but its characters still can, and do, fall at any time. And with The Force Awakens, director J.J. Abrams has proven that he has no issue with killing off major, major characters to advance the story. So with that in mind, who's next? Who's going to buy the moisture farm in Episode VIII? The Force tells us that the following characters will probably die...and of course, major spoilers ahead.
Supreme Leader Snoke
The Force Awakens borrows much of its plot from the original trilogy, but it's not a total rehash. We feel there won't be any Anakin-style redemption for Kylo Ren, not after he butchers his father on the Starkiller Base. He clearly doesn't want any redemption, either, as he wants to be a Sith like Darth Vader, his grandfather before him, and actively fights being turned back to the Light.
So with that in mind, he's only going to get worse, turning on and destroying his master, Supreme Leader Snoke, the second he decides Snoke has taught him all he can about the Dark Side. For one thing, Snoke is completely expendable as a Palpatine knock-off, and disappoints us the second his impressively gargantuan figure is revealed to be naught but a hologram. Besides, Ren killing Snoke wouldn't be an unheard-of plot twist, as Sith apprentices classically betray their masters in a pursuit of power (just ask Palpatine's former master, if you can speak with the dead). Ren won't rest until he accomplishes the one thing his grandfather couldn't do while turning on his own master—stay Dark and rule the entire galaxy.
Poe Dameron
Poe Dameron is an amazing pilot and an amazing friend, but what's not amazing is the sad fact that he doesn't have long for this world. He's a fun and faithful sidekick to FN "Finn" 2187 (he gives him the nickname, after all), but somebody in that relationship's got to die. It happens with Han and Chewie, with Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, and now it's going to happen with Poe and Finn.
Why Poe? Well, we don't feel like Finn's going anywhere anytime soon—he's a major hero, and will no doubt recover from his lightsaber wounds in time to hunt Ren and snark with Rey all over again. Plus, according to an interview on GQ with Oscar Isaac—the actor behind Poe—his character was initially supposed to die when he and Finn crash-land on Jakku. Abrams resurrected him for the remainder of the film, but who's to say Lucasfilm won't revisit the director's initial idea come Episode VIII? So Poe's most likely going to meet his maker in 2017, probably while defending Finn from a Stormtrooper attack or a Kylo Ren rampage. He's that good of a friend.
Captain Phasma
Of all the new characters introduced in The Force Awakens, Captain Phasma might have been the biggest disappointment. Gwendoline Christie's Big Boss Stormtrooper could've been huge—a six-foot-three, female Stormtrooper who clearly loves her job and would likely kill anyone to keep it—but she gets a scant few minutes of screen time, rare bits of dialogue, and an anticlimactic end as Finn and Han contemplate tossing her into the trash compactor. Since we don't see Phasma actually go into the compactor, we can assume she either escapes her hostage situation, or simply climbs out before being crushed. But most likely, she won't be so lucky come Episode VIII.
And, as with Poe, this would likely come down to Lucasfilm sticking with Abrams' original plans—in this case, Phasma wasn't even supposed to be in the movie at all. According to an interview Christie conducted on Alan Carr's Chatty Man talk show, she had to beg and plead to appear in Star Wars for six months before Abrams gave in and wrote her a character. That would explain her scant screen time and, most likely, Phasma's impending on-screen death come Episode VIII.
Maz Kanata
Another new character that doesn't get nearly enough screen time for our liking, thousand-year-old pirate Maz Kanata meets with Han and friends in Cantina Part II, explains to Rey why Luke and Anakin's old lightsaber is calling to her, and then watches sadly as Rey chooses to run away from her destiny. The First Order destroys her Not-Cantina, and nobody bothers to explain what happens to her afterwards.
A character like hers wouldn't die a quiet, unexplained, off-screen death (she knows too much about Luke to not share her knowledge, and besides, she still needs to see her boyfriend, Chewbacca, at least once more). But there's no reason she can't kick the bucket in the next film. She's definitely not a fighter, but she knows enough about the Force to do something that'll attract Snoke and Ren's attention, and that will ultimately be her downfall. And being murdered in battle is a far cooler way to die than her fellow multi-centenarian, Yoda, who simply grew too old to live any longer.
General Hux
The original trilogy's leaders in the Empire who aren't strong with the Force often get overlooked (or choked out, in poor General Motti's case), and the First Order's General Hux is no different. He has no interest in the Dark Side, has little faith in Kylo Ren's ability to carry out Supreme Leader Snoke's orders using only "sorcerer's ways" and "mumbo-jumbo" (to quote Motti and Solo, respectively), and wants nothing more than to take Ren's place as Snoke's favorite underling. This, obviously, will not happen, as Force-insensitive characters don't fare very well in this galaxy. This is especially true when their rivals have no issue Force-choking their rivals' brains until they explode. Rey and Poe survive that torture, but something tells us that, at some point in Episode VIII, Hux will be the first to not.
Luke Skywalker
We waited months to learn exactly what Luke is up to in The Force Awakens and, as it turns out, he's basically chilling: sitting on the dock of the bay of a pretty green planet, watching the tides roll away and waiting for a worthy apprentice to help him destroy the First Order. The film ends just as we finally get a glimpse of No-Longer-Young Skywalker, which is unofficially one of the best cliffhangers in movie saga history. He'll play a much, much, much bigger role in Episode VIII, but there's a real good chance that's as far as he goes. Much like sidekicks and Non-Force bad guys, wise old mentors typically don't make it to the end in this universe.
The real question is, how will Luke join his father and mentors in the great conga line of Force Ghosts? He's still young enough to fight, so perhaps Kylo Ren will strike him down, just as he did Luke's old friend, Han. Maybe he'll sacrifice himself to destroy yet another Death Star or Starkiller (because the Dark Side never learns from its mistakes). Or, most ominously of all, perhaps Rey will prove more Anakin than Luke, turn on the exiled Jedi Master, and destroy him en route to ruling the galaxy herself. Hey, war is Hell, death comes for us all, and nobody said this saga has to have a happy ending.