Tobias Beckett | |
Continuity: | Star Wars |
Notability: | Antagonist |
Type: | Criminal |
Occupation: | Thief |
Gender: | Male |
Race: | Human |
Location: | Glee Anselm |
Associations: | Beckett's crew Crimson Dawn |
Status: | Deceased |
Died: | 10 BBY |
First: | Solo: A Star Wars Story |
Actor: | Woody Harrelson |
Tobias Beckett is a fictional criminal thief and a secondary antagonist featured in the Star Wars multimedia franchise. Played by actor Woody Harrelson, he appeared in the 2018 feature film Solo: A Star Wars Story, as well as all adapted media.
Biography[]

Tobias Beckett was a human born on the water world of Glee Anselm. As an adult, he became a thief and the leader of a gang that ultimately came under the employ of Dryden Vos of the criminal cartel known as the Crimson Dawn. His crew included his lover, Val, and the Ardennian pilot, Rio Durant.
In 10 BBY, Beckett, Val and Durant infiltrated the Imperial Navy as officers (Rio was a trooper). Working undercover as a captain in the Navy, Beckett was sent to the swampy planet known as Mimban, where the Imperials engaged in a land battle against the native populace. Beckett acquired some damaged battle armor, which he likely took from a corpse. In the midst of battle, Beckett met a young Corellian soldier named Han Solo. Solo quickly sussed out that Tobias was not what he seemed, and said that he wanted in with his gang. Impressed by the youth's brashness, Beckett eventually conceded, and Han became a member of his crew. They were further joined by the wookiee known as Chewbacca, whom Han had liberated from an Imperial dungeon.

Beckett after the Vandor fiasco.
Their next big heist on behalf of Crimson Dawn was to rob a 20-T Railcrawler conveyex transport, which had been carrying a large volume of the valuable coaxium as part of its cargo on the planet Vandor. The heist went sour as they had to swap blaster fire with not only Imperial Viper probe droids, but also a gang of raiders led by Enfys Nest called the Cloud Riders. By the end of the affair, not only did Beckett fail to procure the coaxium, but Val and Rio Durant both lost their lives in the process.
Tobias, Solo, and Chewbacca had to go to Dryden Vos' starliner empty handed. It was at this time that Han reconnected with his Corellian lover, Qi'ra, who was Vos' chief confidante. It was also Han who had suggested repaying Dryden Vos by scoring a massive quantity of unrefined coaxium from the spice mines of Kessel. Vos warned them all that should they fail a second time, their lives would be forfeit.

Han and Beckett on the Falcon.
In order to accomplish this task however, they needed a fast ship. They found a gambler named Lando Calrissian who owned a YT-1300 light freighter called the Millennium Falcon. Beckett negotiated terms with Calrissian to have him pilot them to Kessel, drawing the line of giving Lando 25% of the take. When Lando found that the Falcon had been impounded, Tobias offered to free it up, but this would cost Lando 5% of his take.
The Kessel Run proved to be inordinately dangerous as the crew had to deal not only with the dangers of the Maw gravity well, but also pursuing Imperial fighters, and a massive space monster. During their firefight with the Imperials, Beckett manned the Falcon 's ventral cannon. In order to escape from the Maw, they had to infuse the ship's drive engines with a small portion of the unrefined coaxium they had acquired.

Beckett on Savareen.
The group made it back safely and landed on the planet Savareen, which is where Vos' starliner was moored. Han Solo attempted to switch out the coaxium with a fake substitute, in order to give the genuine materials to the Cloud Rider, who they now learned were actually freedom fighters struggling against the Empire. Always looking out for himself, Beckett betrayed Han, Chewie & Qui'ra and secretly told Dryden Vos of Han's plan to switch out the coaxium. However, Solo anticipated Beckett's eventual betrayal and did another switch-around between the fake and genuine materials. Beckett revealed his true colors to them in Vos' office. Holding them all at blaster-point, he took Chewbacca prisoner and made him carry two large cases of coaxium out towards the beachhead. After Beckett left, Solo and Qi'ra fought against Dryden Vos, with Qi'ra ultimately killing him.
Solo chased Tobias out onto the beach and drew his blaster on him. Beckett began to explain his motives, but Han interrupted him, shooting him in the chest. As he lay dying, Beckett told Solo that he made the right move and that he was proud of him.
Notes & Trivia[]
- The character of Tobias Beckett was created by director Ron Howard and screenwriters Jonathan and Lawrence Kasdan based on concepts developed by George Lucas.
- Tobias Beckett's homeworld, Glee Anselm, is also the birth place of Kit Fisto, a Nautolan who was a member of the Jedi Order and was killed by Darth Sidious in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
- Tobias Beckett apparently has some professional connection to Bossk. Bossk is a Trandoshan bounty hunter who appeared amongst the assembled hunters on the bridge of the Executor in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.
- Tobias Beckett is responsible for killing Aurra Sing, who was a bounty hunter. Sing made a brief appearance at the Boonta Eve Classic podrace competition in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. She became much more popular in the expanded Legends material produced by Dark Horse Comics. To his credit, it was actually the fall that killed Sing, Tobias merely pushed her.
- Tobias Beckett never learned the rule about "Let the wookiee win" when it comes to Holochess. Coincidentally, the movements and actions of the Holochess characters on the board are the exact same as when we first saw them in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
- Tobias Beckett is responsible for giving Han Solo his DL-44 heavy blaster pistol, which is revealed to be broken down from the stock of a larger rifle weapon.
- With the death of Major Staz on Mimban, Tobias Beckett became the highest ranking officer of the Imperial Navy during the remainder of the battle.
See also[]
Media
The World of Star Wars
Star Wars miscellaneous
External Links[]
- Tobias Beckett at Wookieepedia
- Tobias Beckett at the Villains Wiki
- Tobias Beckett at the Star Wars Databank