It's a good time to be a Star Wars fan. Because the annual Star Wars Celebration is this weekend in Orlando, which means that bits and pieces of franchise news are being released to the masses. In particular, today's panel teased bits of Star Wars: The Last Jedi's plot, as well as the first official trailer for the highly anticipated installment into the galaxy far, far away. One of the particularly exciting moments from the panel revealed a brand spankin' new character to the franchise, played by relative unknown Kelly Marie Tran.
Kelly Marie Tran took the stage at Celebration to share the news herself, saying about her character:
My character's name is Rose. She's part of The Resistance. She works in maintenance, and I can't wait for you to meet her.
Looks like a flower has joined The Resistance. May the Force be with her.
While it might originally feel like a let down that the mysterious character is a maintenance worker, it actually has more of an emotional weight than you'd think. To start, Rose's position in The Resistance seems to run parallel to Finn's humble beginnings with the First Order. If you recall, Finn helped form the plan to destroy Starkiller Base in The Force Awakens. But after putting the plan in motion, he reveals to Han Solo that he knows the base so well because he worked there... in sanitation. That's right, Finn was scrubbing toilets. So adding another character who will presumably rise from a menial job shows that truly anyone can make a difference.
In fact, that's exactly what The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson has in mind when he created the character Rose. While introducing Rose to the live audience at Star Wars Celebration, Johnson revealed how he was inspired by Luke Skywalker's humble beginnings in the original trilogy. As a child, it showed that an unremarkable person could step up and save the galaxy. He said,
One of the things as a kid in Colorado watching these movies, watching Luke Skywalker get pulled out of wherever he is and be this unlikely hero; the notion that an of us could step up and turn into a hero. That's really where the character of Rose comes from. She's not a soldier. She's not looking to be a hero. And she gets pulled in a very big way into an adventure in the movie with Finn.
Once again, it's no accident that Finn is the character who Rose saddles up to in The Last Jedi. Perhaps she will serve as a bit of a mirror to Finn, inspiring him to continue his battle against The First Order. I'm assuming he won't feel great about getting beaten up and left in the Resistance base by Rey, so maybe he'll need a certain new character to pick him up and remind him how far he's come.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi will fly into theaters on December 15, 2017. Check out our full 2017 premiere list to plan your next trip to the movies.
