WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for director Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, in theaters now.
Two agonizing years ago, Star Wars: The Force Awakens left fans with a cliffhanger ending in which Rey finds Luke Skywalker in self-imposed exile, placing the saga at a crossorads. However, few could have predicted that our curiosity about the franchise's future would take such a tragic turn just one year later.
On Dec. 27, 2016, actress Carrie Fisher passed away at age 60 after suffering a massive heart attack four days earlier. And naturally, after an appropriate period of mourning, fans soon began to wonder what that would mean not only for the Star Wars as a whole but The Last Jedi, which had wrapped principal photography months earlier. Although we learned that Leia won’t appear in Episode IX, Disney CEO Bob Iger assured in March that Fisher's untimely passing wouldn’t affect The Last Jedi’s story.
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But should it have? Or should a moment in The Last Jedi designated for another character have been used instead to provide Leia with the sendoff she truly deserved?
Writer/director Rian Johnson's film introduces the purple-haired Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo (Laura Dern), who's placed in temporary command of the Resistance following an attack on the flagship Raddus cruiser results in the death of Admiral Ackbar and leaves General Organa in a comatose state.
Although she receives relatively little screen time, Holdo is quickly established as someone the audience is supposed to find abrasive – a pseudo-antagonist, if you will. She’s a by-the-books military leader, but by placing her in contention with Oscar Isaac’s fan-favorite Poe Dameron, this otherwise-forgivable quality positions Holdo as little more than an archetypal, unlikable authority figure.
Still, despite all of that, Holdo is placed at the forefront of arguably the most heroic, visually stunning moment in the film.
As the Raddus crew evacuates to Crait, Holdo tells Leia she’ll remain aboard because someone needs to ensure the rescue transports are able to take off. Admittedly, it’s a nice moment, as we learn that not only did Holdo have a plan all along, but that she and Leia are actually quite close – something that’s explored in other canonical mediums, but not so much in the film itself. However, after Benicio Del Toro's mysterious "DJ" betrays Finn and Rose on the First Order Mega-class Star Destroyer Supremacy, Supreme Leader Snoke’s flagship begins to fire upon the fleeing transports, destroying many of them in the process.
In an effort to prevent further casualties, Holdo powers up the hyperdrive on the Raddus. Perplexed, the First Order immediately questions Holdo’s game plan, but by the time General Hux realizes what’s about to happen, it’s too late: Holdo activates Raddus’ hyperdrive and rams through Supremacy at hyperspeed, sacrificing herself and taking a large section of the Mega Destroyer and the First Order with her.
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The way the scene is shot makes this moment all the more breathtaking, as we watch it unfold from multiple angles in near-silence, almost as if the cinematography is the lightning that precedes the inevitable, explosive thunder that soon follows. But while all of that unfolds, one can’t help but wonder whether the scene would have had more impact if, instead of Holdo, someone more deserving of such a heroic, beautiful sendoff made the sacrifice instead – perhaps someone we’re going to have to part ways with eventually.
Clearly, the moment is intended as a means of redeeming Holdo after depicting her as a thorn in Poe’s side. However, she barely had any time to establish herself as someone the audience should have any sympathy for. So for all this scene’s merits, it sadly lacks any real emotional weight, because Holdo never actually earned it.
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Meanwhile, we have Leia, who we know isn’t going to appear in Episode IX, either in the flesh or in CGI. Her absence from that film most likely means her inevitable death is something that will take place off-camera, which is hardly a fitting farewell for the most prominent woman in the Star Wars franchise. And even if Lucasfilm were to forgo addressing Fisher’s real-life death in Episode IX by simply dropping some expository dialogue revealing that she’s stepped down as leader of the Resistance, it would be even more unfulfilling, not to mention unworthy of Carrie Fisher’s immense Star Wars legacy.
We live in an age in which visual effects and film editing are capable of accomplishing the unimaginable. That said, we’d be naïve to think it was impossible to use some of the countless shots of a solemn Leia standing aboard Raddus to splice her into that scene instead of Holdo. Heck, even a body double shot from behind could have worked.
Ultimately, Rian Johnson, Bob Iger & Co. not wanting to let the death of Carrie Fisher to change the course of The Last Jedi is an admirable decision that honors Leia’s legacy. Looking at the big picture, though, unless the studio has something else incredibly profound already planned, perhaps a few reshoots and some minor tweaks to The Last Jedi’s final act would have been worth it if it meant giving Leia the perfect farewell.
Now in theaters nationwide, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is written and directed by Rian Johnson, and stars Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Daisy Ridley as Rey, John Boyega as Finn, Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, Andy Serkis as Supreme Leader Snoke, Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux, Gwendoline Christie as Captain Phasma, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, Lupita Nyong’o as Maz Kanata, Benicio Del Toro as ‘DJ’, Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico, Laura Dern as Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, and the late Carrie Fisher as General Leia Organa.