star wars zero company characters and squad guide

The direct answer

STAR WARS Zero Company characters fall into three useful groups. Hawks is the player character and squad leader, authored Operators carry named identities and story roles, and Custom Operators fill the roster with player-created recruits. The Den also has support characters who help run the company without serving as regular frontline Operators.

The public named cast is not presented as the complete launch roster. That distinction matters when searching for every companion or asking how many characters the game contains. The safest current answer is a confirmed group of named examples with the final total To be confirmed.

Hawks and the authored squad

Hawks is a former Republic officer who leads Zero Company after leaving the normal chain of command. The character is customizable across identity and appearance options, and the player chooses Hawks’ combat specialization. Hawks must be present in story missions, which makes the character the one constant in the campaign and gives every squad plan a fixed starting point.

The authored Operators are written companions with their own identities and roles. Trick is a Clone commando, Kabb Uppercut is a cyborg boxer, Cly Kullervo is a Mandalorian, Luco Bronc is an Umbaran sniper, Jae Mordant is an ousted noble, and Tel-Rea Vokoss is a Jedi Padawan. These descriptions establish the character concepts, while every final ability and recruitment detail is not equally confirmed.

The team can also include cameos and story characters outside the main combat roster. Named supporting characters include Kundri Fathom, Typhon, Visser, Anakin Skywalker, Gorga, and others, but a voice credit does not automatically mean that a character can be recruited. Frontline availability, mission order, and the final playable roster should be treated separately.

Story Operators have fixed identities and unique abilities tied to their character concepts. Their signature abilities persist when a story character changes standard specialization. This lets an authored companion move into a different tactical role while keeping a piece of the identity that makes that character distinct.

Custom Operators

Custom Operators are created by the player and can be mixed with authored companions. Their appearance, loadout, abilities, names, and backstories can be tailored to the player’s preferred style. This gives the roster a personal layer that sits beside the written story cast.

The player can choose the balance between authored and custom Operators in tactical missions. A custom recruit can cover a class or weapon role that the current story group lacks, or simply join because the player prefers the way that Operator looks and sounds. Custom mercenaries can also have personalities that affect combat barks and greetings in The Den.

Custom characters use the game’s available creation systems, not external mods. Their choices can include species, first name, appearance, clothing, voice, specialization, and equipment, though the exact availability of each option can depend on the character type. Hawks and custom mercenaries also have different species boundaries, so one universal species list would be misleading.

The species available to Hawks and custom mercenaries include Devaronian, Human, Mirialan, Togruta, Twi’lek, and Zabrak. Neimoidian, Ovissian, Rodian, and Weequay are custom-mercenary-only options. The total list and whether every option remains identical in the current build are To be confirmed, yet these are the named options currently associated with character creation.

The Den support crew

Some important characters remain at The Den instead of deploying as ordinary Operators. Bennic Halloren handles Republic Intelligence support, Runa Blask is part of Operations and Finance, Neesh Renark is the Armory and Black Market contact, and M-3VO, also called Meevo, provides pilot and Medbay support. Their support roles are separate from the deployable roster.

These characters still matter to the campaign. The Den is where the company handles equipment, recovery, mission selection, and conversations between deployments. Support crew members give the base a social and practical structure, while the authored Operators bring their own story threads to the squad.

The game also uses relationships between Operators. Bonds improve when characters fight together or perform certain actions as a squad, and those relationships connect with cross-training and combat synergies. Operations can change squad approval and bond development, so character choice continues outside the tactical map.

Roster limits and permanent loss

The mission squad has four spaces. Because Hawks is mandatory in story missions, three other spaces are available for authored or custom Operators in those missions. A total roster limit for all recruits is not confirmed, so the answer to how many characters can be owned or recruited remains To be confirmed.

Named companions can be exposed to the same injury and permadeath rules as custom mercenaries, with Hawks treated as an exception because a Hawks defeat fails the mission. That rule changes how players think about the cast. A character’s story importance does not guarantee safety, and rotating Operators can protect a favorite companion while also developing more bonds across the company.

The current list should therefore be read as a guide to the known cast, not a promise that no other characters exist. Tel-Rea also appears with a Tal-Rea spelling variant in one entry, while Cly’s name is rendered differently in some early text. Those name boundaries are To be confirmed until the current game presents one final spelling.

How to choose characters

Start with the role the mission needs, then consider the character’s class, weapon, talent, and bond partners. A Heavy can make space for a Sharpshooter, a Medic can protect a fragile damage dealer, and a Scoundrel can set up a target for allied attacks. The authored story ability can remain useful after a respec, so a companion does not have to stay in the role suggested by the first introduction.

The best roster is the one you can keep healthy and understand. Use custom recruits to fill gaps, keep regular pairs together when you want their bond to grow, and remember that The Den is part of the character system rather than a simple menu. STAR WARS Zero Company characters are built to sit between tactical choices and a campaign story, with some roster details still waiting for confirmation.