Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker editor Maryann Brandon claims the filmmakers tried to include Rose Tico in the movie as much as possible. In the weeks following The Rise of Skywalker’s premiere in December, viewers have expressed their dissatisfaction with some aspects of the film. One of the more notable Rise of Skywalker controversies to gain traction in the fan community is the sidelining of Rose, who was a main character in The Last Jedi and played a large role in Finn’s arc. Kelly Marie Tran reprised the character in Rise of Skywalker, but she was basically a glorified extra with 76 seconds of screen time.
After The Last Jedi appeared to set Rose up as a key member of the Resistance, many were angry to see her part drastically reduced in The Rise of Skywalker. Making matters worse is the fact Tran was harassed off social media after receiving several hateful comments, giving the impression Lucasfilm intentionally pushed Rose to the side to appease an extremely toxic circle of the Star Wars fan base. In the aftermath, Rise of Skywalker co-writer Chris Terrio said they wanted to include more of Rose, but faced challenges related to Carrie Fisher’s archived Leia footage. Now, Brandon is offering her explanation for what happened with Rose.
Speaking with HuffPost, Brandon talked about Rose, saying she made sure to “cut to her a few times in the end battle” so fans could see her in action. As for the character’s significantly diminished role, Brandon mainly chalked it up to the sheer amount of material The Rise of Skywalker needed to cover, as it wrapped up the sequel trilogy and the saga:
It’s true The Rise of Skywalker had a lot on its plate, and it was pertinent that it resolved long-running story threads that had been active since The Force Awakens (like Rey and Kylo’s dynamic). However, the handling of Rose is still a bit odd. Instead of continuing to develop her relationship with Finn or getting her own subplot while the main group heads off to Pasaana, Rose is relegated to the background as she studies Star Destroyer specs offscreen. Granted, that was a necessary job as the Resistance looked for an advantage against their enemies, but it was still a strange way to utilize Rose, who many fans were excited to see more of. Curiously, The Rise of Skywalker introduces a bevy of new characters, several of whom have little to do in the film. Some have argued that time could have been used to further flesh Rose out.
“There were a lot of characters in the film, and because J.J. wanted to make this film about a journey of the three main friends and then Rey’s conflict with Kylo Ren, it became very hard to service a lot more characters. She’s an important character in the Resistance, and we tried very hard to show that in the film, and I think we did, but the film just really couldn’t handle much more character stories.”
With the Skywalker saga now complete, it seems highly unlikely Tran will portray Rose on the big screen again. Fans are interested in seeing her headline a Star Wars Disney+ show, but the odds of that happening are similarly slim. In all likelihood, the best Rose fans can hope for is for the character to receive more development in other areas of canon, such as novels and comic books. It’s already been confirmed the Rise of Skywalker novelization includes a deleted Lando Calrissian subplot, so perhaps Rose will have a bigger role in the book. The novelization would be a great place to spotlight those Rose/Leia scenes that had to be cut out.
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Source: HuffPost
