Even though her time on the Star Wars screen was brief, L3-37 remained one of the most important droids in the Star Wars galaxy. While her physical body got destroyed in Solo: A Star Wars Story, Brittany N. Williams’ “Faith in an Old Friend” from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back: From a Certain Point of View revealed that her consciousness lived on within the Millennium Falcon’s computers. Rather than lose her identity, L3 formed a collective with ED-4 and V5-T, the other droids that served as the Falcon’s computer. And their combined identity, known as the Millennium Collective, showed just how human droids could be.
In Solo, L3-37 was a strong advocate for droid's rights. She rejected the idea of ownership, instead working to make her own destiny in the Star Wars galaxy. L3 argued that droids should have the freedom to make their own decisions, and she even instigated a Kessel droid rebellion before her physical form got destroyed.
L3-37's desire to retain her identity after her body's destruction was a further extension of that fight. Williams’ "Faith in an Old Friend" celebrated the droid's indomitable spirit and showed how she helped V5-T and ED-4 become more self-actualized. Before L3's consciousness got uploaded to the Falcon, V5-T and ED-4 were singular entities, but she helped them separate their consciousnesses and assert their individuality, forming the Millennium Collective.
By doing this, L3 showed how ships and other mechanical intelligence got made up of multiple parts. In the Millennium Falcon, V5-T, a transport droid, was part of the ship's original computer and showed the type of computer consciousness that most YT-1300 freighter ships had to begin with. And while V5-T's point of view and dialogue were the simplest in "Faith in an Old Friend," V5-T appreciated L3's contributions to the collective and the new ways of approaching consciousness.
ED-4 jumped even more wholeheartedly into the collective, and her existence hinted at the Millennium Falcon's past before either Lando Calrissian or Han Solo owned the ship. ED-4 specifically was the droid brain of a slicer droid specified in corporate espionage, showing that the Millennium Falcon's earlier owner also was involved in the underworld. Unlike V5-T, who already had a name, V5-T specified that ED-4 chose her own name, indicating that ED-4 didn't have one before L3's arrival. This act of choosing a name showed that ED-4 embraced the idea of asserting her consciousness and becoming her own individual identity even as she served as part of a collective.
But ED-4 was also the part of the Millennium Collective most excited about learning. Her narration and speech showed how her rapidly expanding vocabulary encompassed her new experiences. ED-4 also maintained a friendship with a WED-15 Treadwell droid that ended tragically when the Empire destroyed Treadwell. ED-4's grief over the loss of her friend showed that droids had similar ranges of emotions to their organic counterparts.
However, most importantly, "Faith in an Old Friend" emphasized L3-37's complicated emotions surrounding the loss of her physical form and relationship with Lando. L3 embraced her role on the Millennium Falcon and the sisterhood she found with V5-T and ED-4. Still, she grieved the loss of her old life and missed her adventures with Lando. She also struggled with her anger at Lando for losing the Falcon to Han Solo and his decision to work with the Empire. However, her interactions with Lando and his eventual decision to defy the Empire made L3 proud and brought her some peace and closure.
Overall, the Millennium Collective as an entity shows that the droids of the Star Wars universe are more sentient than they are given credit for by their organic counterparts. Throughout the story, V5-T and ED-4 learn from L3-37 how to stretch their abilities and assert their independence. The Millennium Collective showed a form of consciousness unique to droids, but the members still proved just how human droids could be.