[Star Wars Day] Michigan’s Favorite Star Wars Characters to Cosplay

Photo by Felipe Balduino

Article courtesy of Remove Background.

• Padmé Amidala is Michigan’s most popular Star Wars character to cosplay this Star Wars Day (Monday, May 4), with 17,440 yearly searches related to her outfit in Michigan.
• Darth Vader is second, with 16,610 yearly outfit-related searches, while Anakin Skywalker is third, with 14,670 yearly searches.
• Princess Leia, Darth Maul, and Jabba the Hutt all rank among the most popular cosplayed characters in the state.

A new study has revealed that Padmé Amidala is Michigan’s most popular Star Wars character to cosplay this Star Wars Day.

Remove Background, the image editor experts, analyzed Google search data from the past year for 67 Star Wars characters alongside the terms “cosplay,” “costume,” “clothes,” and “outfit” to determine the Star Wars character cosplays people are most interested in. Characters who dramatically changed their appearance over the saga, such as Anakin Skywalker, who later became Darth Vader, were treated as separate characters.

Michigan’s 10 most popular Star Wars characters to cosplay by yearly Google searches

1. Padmé Amidala

Padmé Amidala is Michigan’s most popular Star Wars character to cosplay this Star Wars Day, with 17,440 searches related to her outfit in Michigan in the past year.

Padmé made her first appearance in Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) and wore several outfits across her appearances. However, her most spectacular outfit has to be her throne room gown and accompanying attire. The gown is a floor-length red dress with brown fur trim and gold embroidery, finished with six large, orange, oval-shaped gemstones near its base. This is worn with an ornate red and gold headdress, along with stark white makeup to finish the look.

2. Darth Vader

Darth Vader is the second-most popular Star Wars character to cosplay, with 16,610 searches related to his outfit over the past year.

First appearing in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope in 1977, he immediately cemented his place as one of the most imposing antagonists in film. Darth Vader is instantly recognizable for his signature black mask and iconic red lightsaber, with a black cape and life-support suit to complete the outfit.

3. Anakin Skywalker

The man who would become Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker, is the third-most popular Star Wars character to cosplay, with 14,670 searches related to his outfit over the past 12 months.

Anakin made his first appearance in the prequel trilogy in Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999). His most iconic outfit is from his appearance in Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005), where he wears loose-fitting dark brown Jedi robes over a dark blue tunic, brown pants, and black boots. His blue lightsaber completes the look.

4. Princess Leia

Princess Leia ranks fourth among the most popular Star Wars characters to cosplay, with 7,380 yearly searches related to her outfit.

Leia first appeared in A New Hope with her iconic outfit of a flowing white robe, with a white belt around the hips, and her hair in side buns. However, some fans may argue her most iconic outfit is her gold bikini and loincloth worn during the events in Jabba the Hutt’s palace in Episode VI – Return of the Jedi.

5. Han Solo

Han Solo is the fifth-most popular Star Wars character to cosplay, with 5,410 yearly searches related to his outfit.

The smuggler-turned-hero first graced the silver screen in A New Hope, and his most well-known outfit comprises a loose, low-cut cream long-sleeved shirt, blue pants, black boots, and a black vest.

6. Luke Skywalker

The hero of the original trilogy, Luke Skywalker, is sixth among the most popular Star Wars characters to cosplay, with 4,680 outfit-related searches.

He first appeared in A New Hope, which also featured his most iconic outfit. In A New Hope, he wears a loose white tunic, black belt, white pants, and khaki boots with leg wraps. His blue lightsaber completes the outfit.

7. Obi-Wan Kenobi

Obi-Wan Kenobi is the seventh-most popular Star Wars character to cosplay, with 3,040 outfit-related searches in the past year.

His most recognizable look comes from the prequel trilogy. In the later prequels, he wears a large and flowing brown Jedi robe over a loose-fitting khaki tunic, itself worn over a white shirt and white pants, with a brown belt and brown boots. His blue lightsaber finishes the outfit.

8. Boba Fett

Boba Fett ranks eighth among the most popular Star Wars characters to cosplay, with 2,750 searches over the past year related to his outfit.

Despite his brief appearances in the original trilogy, he became a fan favorite for his icy demeanor and cool outfit. He made his original trilogy debut in The Empire Strikes Back, where his outfit comprised green, yellow, and gray armor plates with red trim worn over gray fatigues, black boots, and a small khaki cape, capped off with his iconic green and red helmet with a T-shaped visor.

9. Darth Maul

Darth Maul ranks as the ninth-most popular Star Wars character to cosplay, with 2,460 yearly outfit-related searches.

Darth Maul made his only movie appearance in the main Star Wars trilogies in The Phantom Menace, where he wowed moviegoers with his iconic dual-bladed red lightsaber. The rest of his outfit is made up of loose-fitting black robes, black boots, and black gloves. Most important of all are his black and red facial markings and a ring of small horns protruding from the top of his head.

10. Jabba the Hutt

Rounding out the top 10 most popular Star Wars characters to cosplay is Jabba the Hutt, with 2,220 yearly searches.

Fans got their first look at Jabba the Hutt in Return of the Jedi, and while he doesn’t have an outfit, the slug-like Hutt has an unmistakable appearance.

America’s five most popular Star Wars characters to cosplay by yearly Google searches

Nationally, Padmé Amidala is the most popular Star Wars character to cosplay, with 708,580 searches related to her outfit across America in the past year.

Darth Vader is second, with 566,780 yearly outfit-related searches, and Anakin Skywalker follows in third, with 545,980 yearly searches.

Princess Leia and Han Solo complete the top five, with 307,840 and 230,610 yearly searches related to their outfits, respectively.

Marc Porcar, CEO of Remove Background, commented on the findings:

“What is surprising to see is Padmé having the most searches related to costumes and cosplays in Michigan and nationally, since many people might have expected to see characters like Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker rank highest.

“This may be because of the surge in popularity the prequel trilogy has enjoyed in the past few years, and how varied her outfits have been since her first appearance in The Phantom Menace. People looking to cosplay as Padmé have the choice of relatively low-effort looks all the way up to very extravagant costumes when replicating her throne room outfit.”

Source:

Google Keyword Planner

Methodology:

Data on searches in each state and America overall was obtained from Google Keyword Planner for the period April 2025 to March 2026.

A seed list of 276 search phrases was created by combining 67 Star Wars characters with the phrases “[character] costume,” “[character] outfit,” “[character] cosplay,” and “[character] clothes.”

In each area, the number of searches was found for these search phrases, then combined by character to find the total number of searches over the past year for each character.

Characters were then ranked by total number of searches in each area.

Some characters had two names, so eight search phrases were used for them to reflect how people may know them by multiple names. These were Emperor Palpatine (Darth Sidious) and Din Djarin (“The Mandalorian”).

Data for Kylo Ren was unavailable through Google Keyword Planner and was omitted.

America’s 20 most popular Star Wars characters to cosplay by yearly Google searches

The most popular Star Wars character to cosplay in each state by yearly Google searches