'Star Wars' Writer Explains Why Kelly Marie Tran Has Such Limited Screen Time In Latest Film, But Fans Aren't Convinced
**WARNING: potential spoilers to plot elements for Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker.
The newest installment in the Star Wars franchise, Rise of Skywalker, has divided fans.
While some believe the film was a fitting conclusion to the nine-part saga, others couldn't help but notice the continuity issues between the newest movie and its predecessor, the controversial Last Jedi.
One of the ways some fans believe Rise of Skywalker fell short was its treatment of Rose Tico, one of Last Jedi's most prominent characters and the only woman of color in the main cast. After playing an incredibly prominent role in Episode 8, Tico had less than two minutes of screen time in the conclusion of the saga.
Many felt Tran's role had been cut short because the filmmakers had given in to the online bullies who attacked her following Last Jedi's release. In an interview, director J.J. Abrams and writer Chris Terrio tried to address the inconsistency, but did little to quiet their critics.
The pair attempted to claim Tran's reduced screen time was due to Carrie Fisher's death.
Terrio told Awards Daily:
"Well, first of all, J.J. and I adore Kelly Marie Tran. One of the reasons that Rose has a few less scenes than we would like her to have has to do with the difficulty of using Carrie's footage in the way we wanted to."
@vulture https://t.co/ZuHD9HVdjd— Ivana Knapp (@Ivana Knapp) 1577644985.0
Fans online couldn't believe the pair were pinning their decision on Fisher's passing.
@vulture Blame the dead lady - nice— CJ (@CJ) 1577645180.0
@vulture Show me the weakest excuse for sidelining a woman of color— Claire Sangster like Gangster but with a S (@Claire Sangster like Gangster but with a S) 1577645986.0
@leeyen_lux @quixoticlux People disliking the character, even for non-racist reasons, is still not an excuse to sid… https://t.co/ghG2paUB5F— Chris Stereo. Not Chris Terrio. (@Chris Stereo. Not Chris Terrio.) 1577512135.0
If the writers had wanted Rose Tico in the movie, it wouldn't have been hard to find a place for her.
@quixoticlux ‘We didn’t want to limit her screen-time so we purposefully anchored her to a character who we knew fr… https://t.co/u5DYFf1Enm— Will G. (@Will G.) 1577448581.0
the way they did kelly marie tran's character dirty after all the backlash and racist harassment she received in tl… https://t.co/vFnZyfxvuz— luca / finnpoe is 🏳️🌈 PERIOD (@luca / finnpoe is 🏳️🌈 PERIOD) 1576845568.0
We hope Kelly Marie Tran knows that there were so many fans looking forward to seeing Rose in IX. Where her charact… https://t.co/rs7cVMNh9b— Scavenger's Hoard (@Scavenger's Hoard) 1577342743.0
In response to the film's treatment of Tico, Twitter started the hashtag #RoseTicoDeservedBetter.
Kelly Marie Tran had to do a press tour for less than 2 minutes of screen time in ROS, after all that harassment. I… https://t.co/vC7csMfJf2— Jenn Ravenna (@Jenn Ravenna) 1577398719.0
Sidelining Kelly Marie Tran (Star Wars’ first leading woman of colour) while doing nothing to quash the racist targ… https://t.co/LyS0hWPzsG— Janet (@Janet) 1577491008.0
It’s a shame Kelly Marie Tran died after making The Last Jedi but I’m glad JJ tried to make the most of the footage of her he had left!— Chase Mitchell (@Chase Mitchell) 1576858696.0
Though the minimizing of Tico's role was the most notable, people online felt many other characters had also been "corrected" out of Abram's vision for Star Wars.
Kelly Marie Tran 🤝 Domhnall Gleeson deserved better than having their characters sidelined— 𝐀𝐬𝐡𝐢 |ˢᵃʳᵈⁱ ᴷᵃ ᴰᵃʰᵃᵈ ᴷᵃᵃⁿᵖ ᵁᵗʰᵃ ᴾᵃʰᵃᵈ (@𝐀𝐬𝐡𝐢 |ˢᵃʳᵈⁱ ᴷᵃ ᴰᵃʰᵃᵈ ᴷᵃᵃⁿᵖ ᵁᵗʰᵃ ᴾᵃʰᵃᵈ) 1577554182.0
I don’t care what your feelings are towards Star Wars, The Last Jedi or The Rise of Skywalker... we should all be d… https://t.co/khcVgC1zKj— Rahul Kohli (@Rahul Kohli) 1576971041.0
Okay, looks like I have to be clearer. Kelly Marie Tran was racially abused and chased off social media because peo… https://t.co/CPG7FMLdIY— Rahul Kohli (@Rahul Kohli) 1576973758.0
kelly marie tran, billy dee williams and domhnall gleeson in the rise of skywalker: https://t.co/1DCZxgRLJp— BlackDiamond TROS SPOILERS (@BlackDiamond TROS SPOILERS) 1576854461.0
What could POSSIBLY be the reason for Rose Tico being so thoroughly written out of the newest movie?
kelly marie tran's limited role was not to blame on disney's deep misogynistic beliefs but *spins the wheel* *takes… https://t.co/TzP6tUiyu7— chi (@chi) 1577721970.0
I would argue Kelly Marie Tran had one of the harder jobs: lots of scenes where she had to carry the moment against… https://t.co/ICUnD9ynTL— Perch (@Perch) 1577758750.0
If there's one person who would hate what the filmmakers said about Tico, it's Fisher herself.
How LIVID would Carrie Fisher be about the Kelly Marie Tran nonsense? I mean, really?!— Samta Klaus (@Samta Klaus) 1577743365.0
Wow, I didn’t know Kelly Marie Tran was too busy reanimating Carrie Fisher’s corpse to appear in the movie more (??… https://t.co/XCc8F2rIP3— RGS (@RGS) 1577745225.0
"We wouldn't have capitulated to the racists' harassment campaign against Kelly Marie Tran, but Carrie had to go an… https://t.co/axI7OeKG3n— S.E. Vance 🔦 (@S.E. Vance 🔦) 1577740014.0
Will Rose Tico ever get justice?
It's uncertain. Only one thing is for sure: fans will continue to fight online about the newest Star Wars, every past Star Wars, and every Star Wars to come.
To see more of Kelly Marie Tran, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is available here.