STAR WARS: VISIONS Episode “BLACK” is The Franchise’s Best and Most Haunting Stormtrooper Story Yet
For almost five decades, the Star Wars saga has been locked in an endless dance between the light and the dark. The Jedi and Sith grab the spotlight, but they’ve never been the ones truly holding the galaxy together.
The soldiers, the clones, the troopers, the ones caught in the middle, are the ones who carry the weight of every battle. We’ve seen the clones’ side of that story in The Clone Wars, but the stormtroopers? We’ve never really had a strong story focusing on that.
With Star Wars: Visions, Lucasfilm has finally peeled back that iconic white helmet to explore the fractured mind beneath it. The anthology series has always been about giving creators room to play with the mythos, to show us corners of the galaxy that the Skywalkers never touch. And in Season 3, it unleashed its darkest and most haunting tale yet, with an episode titled “BLACK.”
“BLACK” isn’t just another spin on the Empire’s soldiers. It’s a chilling meditation on guilt, identity, and the psychological cost of endless war. It’s not even entirely clear whether we’re following two stormtroopers or two sides of the same man. What’s clear is that this story doesn’t flinch.
The episode drops us into the chaos of the Death Star under siege. Blaster fire lights up the halls as the Rebels make their move, and amid the noise, one stormtrooper begins to unravel.
He fights, falters, and ultimately faces a reckoning that feels far more internal than external. By the time the battle ends, he’s broken, a man crushed under the weight of everything he’s done and everything he couldn’t fix.
“BLACK” leaves viewers sitting in that silence, confronting what it really means to serve a cause you can’t justify.
It’s a heavy, sobering experience that feels wildly different from anything Star Wars has done with its Stormtroopers before, and I loved it.
Sure, we’ve seen glimpses of doubt before. John Boyega’s Finn in Star Wars: The Force Awakens had one of the most memorable introductions in the sequel trilogy as a stormtrooper who refuses to slaughter innocent villagers under Kylo Ren’s command.
FN-2187 helps Poe Dameron escape, sheds his number for a name, and joins the Resistance as Finn, becoming a hero in his own right.
But even that story only scratches the surface. Once Finn breaks free, his internal struggle with what he’s done fades away. The sequels never really dive into how it feels to fight against the very people you once called brothers.
That’s what makes Visions’ “BLACK” so haunting and great. It doesn’t offer redemption. It doesn’t let its stormtrooper character find peace. It just stares straight into the void and lets the audience feel it too.
In barely ten minutes, Star Wars: Visions manages to say more about what it means to wear that white armor than any film or TV show in the franchise. It’s eerie and emotional, and the kind of story that reminds you why this franchise away has a ton of interesting corners left to explore.
This episode delivers what might just be the most powerful and twisted stormtrooper story in Star Wars history.