Kelly Marie Tran shares a cut scene featuring Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker final battle. Debuting in 2017's Star Wars: The Last Jedi from Rian Johnson, the freedom fighter makes her big screen return in Star Wars 9. Directed and co-written by J.J. Abrams, fans were ecstatic to see her back in action, only to realize that she's barely in the movie.
To say that The Rise of Skywalker had its work cut out for him would be an understatement. Not only did it need to wrap up the Skywalker saga, it also had to make do with the untimely passing of Carrie Fisher whose General Leia Organa was originally at the forefront of the movie. Reviews for the film were divided - with some liking it, while others not so much. But if there's one glaring issue in the film that most seem to agree on, it's the disrespectful sidelining of Rose.
In total, Rose was only in the film for only 76 seconds against a more than two-hour feature film, and Tran says that she was supposed to have a bigger role in The Rise of Skywalker's culminating battle. In a recent interview with THR, the actress details the process of filming her part in the movie's final action set piece as she was asked about her experience shooting the Battle of Exegol. While she didn't delve into specifics about how it fits in the whole third act, it's clear that she was supposed to be in another facet of the all-out war between the Resistance and the First Order. Instead, she was only really seen talking about how Finn (John Boyega) and Jannah (Naomie Ackie) going for what was going to be a suicide mission.
"Yeah, it was probably one of the biggest sets I had ever been on. It was incredible to see what the stunt teams did. It was also insane to be running across this platform — which I know you only see for a second in the movie — but we shot it so many times. I remember having bruises on my knees the next day because we kept running and then we would fall onto our knees and do some more shooting stuff. I don’t think that’s in the movie. It was definitely organized chaos as stormtroopers were flying, people were on horses…. It was pretty insane."
The Rise of Skywalker writer Chris Terrio attempted to explain the lack of Rose in the movie by saying that much of her role was left on the editing room floor because they mostly had something to do with Leia, and the filmmakers were being very careful with the footage they have of Fisher. All that being said, they had the control to write the script in a way that wouldn't have left the character with barely any role in the movie. As panned as the Canto Bight sequence for The Last Jedi was, it gave her something to do - a mission with Finn. The Rise of Skywalker essentially reduced her to a passing role which accounted to having barely any lines. It's both insulting and maddening, especially considering the online bullying that Tran went through since she debuted the role in The Last Jedi.
Long before the film even came out, the marketing for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker provided clues about the character's role in the film. Fans were frustrated to notice that she was barely in any promotional materials for the movie. Artist Bryan Rood eventually cleared up the controversy by explaining that he simply wasn't done with his illustration which was why Rose wasn't in it, however, the fact that they were compelled to release the said poster without the character could be interpreted as Lucasfilm and Disney putting very little importance to her. Those rallying behind Tran aren't asking for her to get a special treatment, instead they're only pushing for fair treatment for the actress and her character.
Source: THR