Star Wars: 50 Greatest Moments - Ranked

By James Hunt / May 7, 2018

43. BB-8 Thumbs Up (The Force Awakens)

Lucasfilm

After a decade away, Star Wars was brought back to life in 2015. And at the very centre of the marketing push that enabled the movie to break the $2bn was its new droid, BB-8.

Introduced a year beforehand in the teaser trailer, fans had already spent a year falling in love with the astromech before the film even came out, but when it did he completely stole the show.

For anyone still not immediately convinced of his place in the pantheon of great Star Wars characters, though, we got this moment between him and Finn. The droid agrees not to spill his secret, and then, to much delight, returns Finn's thumbs up with a flaming one of his own. It's cute, it's funny, it's inventive, and it's utterly brilliant.