Very good to see you here again. And nice to see you're tackling the same problem that's been on my mind of late.

My alien idea has been of a paunchy little alien something between an Ortolan and an Utai. I like the idea of an obviously friendly alien yet very different from Chewie. Personality-wise he might be eager and practical, but that's still very much up in the air.

I am wanting R2-D2 and C-3PO as prominent secondary characters (which will make more sense if I can get it to work as I intend) but I do see merit in another major droid character now that you mention it - especially as a link with R2/3PO. Your droid description made me think of Alan Rickman...so I think there are many ways to do what you want without people thinking of Han Solo.

Also I've been struggling with the lack of females. Beru and Mother Skywalker come into the picture but I don't intend them to be anything like Leia or Padme and so it seems lacking gender-wise. Making the alien a female is a dynamic way of addressing that. Though perhaps a female droid would be good.

Ultimately I need a way of resolving the characters' fates. Do I want a movie where everybody dies (Anakin, Mother Skywalker, Alien, Droid, etc)? Maybe it could work without being depressing. I mean Owen and Beru get fried, Alderaanians explode, Obi Wan and Yoda fade, etc. But it will be tricky if I expect the audience to have the same kind of connection with the characters as OT main characters. Though perhaps not having them so prominent makes it less of a problem if they just go their own way, as you suggest.