As criticism continues to grow regarding the apparent sidelining of Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose Tico (who apparently received just 76 seconds of screen time from the film’s two hour twenty minute running time), Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker screenwriter Chris Terrio has spoken to Awards Daily about the character’s role in the movie, stating that it was never his and J.J. Abrams’ intention to have Rose feature in such a minor capacity.
“Well, first of all, J.J. and I adore Kelly Marie Tran,” said Terrio. “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. We wanted Rose to be the anchor at the rebel base who was with Leia. We thought we couldn’t leave Leia at the base without any of the principals who we love, so Leia and Rose were working together. As the process evolved, a few scenes we’d written with Rose and Leia turned out to not meet the standard of photorealism that we’d hoped for. Those scenes unfortunately fell out of the film. The last thing we were doing was deliberately trying to sideline Rose. We adore the character, and we adore Kelly – so much so that we anchored her with our favorite person in this galaxy, General Leia.”
SEE ALSO: J.J. Abrams says Luke’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker scene is not “flipping off” The Last Jedi
Are you disappointed that we didn’t get to see more of Rose in The Rise of Skywalker? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker sees J.J. Abrams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) directing a cast that includes Star Wars veterans Daisy Ridley (Rey), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), John Boyega (Finn), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), Lupita Nyong’o (Maz Kanata), Domhnall Gleeson (General Hux), Kelly Marie Tran (Rose Tico), Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca), Billie Lourd (Lieutenant Connix), Greg Grunberg (Snap Wexley), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian), Ian McDiarmid (Emperor Palpatine) and Carrie Fisher (Leia Organa) as well as new additions Naomi Ackie (Lady Macbeth), Richard E. Grant (Logan), Dominic Monaghan (Lost), and Keri Russell (The Americans).