Poe Struggles to Lead in The Last Jedi

Despite a major victory against the First Order, Poe Dameron will still be struggling to lead the Resistance in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. While The Force Awakens was mostly focused on introducing its new characters and tackling yet another planet-destorying weapon, Star Wars: The Last Jedi will dig deeper into the new heroes and villains of its universe. What's more, their various organizations will also come into greater focus as we learn how the First Order rose from the ashes of the Empire and just what the Resistance is doing to stop them.

While characters like General Leia Organa and ace pilot Poe Dameron served as the faces of the Resistance in The Force Awakens, united around the plucky new heroes and their old smuggler friends, Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be far more political. As we saw in Rogue One, the forces opposing evil in the galaxy don't always agree on the best methods and this month's film will continue that thread into the Saga storyline. Along with the Resistance leaders, The Last Jedi will introduce Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern) - another obstacle in Poe's path to becoming a leader.

Screen Rant spoke with Oscar Isaac at the Star Wars: The Last Jedi press junket and asked about Poe's mindset in the film and how he's adjusting to his growing clout within the Resistance. Here is what Isaac had to offer on those topics:

"Well, the one thing that he knows how to do gets taken away from him. Which is, you know, getting his X-Wing and going out there and fighting. And so, he finds himself in a situation that's very frustrating because he wants to help but doesn't know how he's going to do it and on top of that he gets a new boss played by the wonderful, exquisite, Laura Dern...and so there's a lot of friction there because there are things that he wants to do. The way he wants to attack. The way he wants to resist is not the way that seems to be the wisest way to resist, or at least not from Admiral Holdo's point of view...And so, that's his basic conflict there. How can you put those two ideas together to fight but also to survive?"

The transition from soldier to leader looks to serve as the central conflict for Poe, especially given how much his skills in an X-Wing have given him a certain amount of freedom thus far. The Rebel Alliance and Resistance are both organizations full of hotshots and non-traditional soldiers, and a certain amount of improvising and rule-breaking has been the key to the groups defeating their more rigid counterparts. Still, no political or military body can survive without some sort of formality and cooperation, and it looks as if Star Wars: The Last Jedi will see Poe chaffing against his more bureaucratic role as a leader.

On top of the transition, we've heard a number of times that Admiral Holdo will represent a stumbling block for Poe. Just as Rogue One presented multiple leaders and factions all with their own methods and opinions, Star Wars: The Last Jedi will find the Resistance fraught with idealogical turmoil. And though Holdo will seem like a villain compared to Poe's protagonist, they're both working towards the same goal of eradicating the First Order. It's that multi-layered conflict that will make the film more than just a black and white tale of good versus evil and could make Star Wars: The Last Jedi stand out from its peers.

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