Star Wars newcomer Kelly Marie Tran has a big role to play in The Last Jedi. When Tran’s Rose Tico debuted at San Diego Comic Con, very little was still known about the Resistance mechanic. Now, speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Tran has shed some light on her every-girl character.
“Poe Dameron is super cool. Finn’s super cool. Even though [Rose] is good at what she does, she’s not known,” Tran explained. “She’s not cool. She’s this nobody, this background player, which is what makes her interesting. She’s not the best. She’s not royalty. She’s someone who is just like everyone else.” Rose also lives in the shadow of her “cooler” sister Paige (Veronica Ngo), a Resistance gunner on par with Poe Dameron.
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Rose is drawn into the action when she meets John Boyega’s Finn. Though the end of The Force Awakens found Finn brutally wounded by Kylo Ren, he wakes up to find that his boast to Han Solo has come true: “When Rose first meets Finn, that’s how she views him. He is ‘a big deal,’” Tran revealed.
Though survival and hero-status seem like a step up for the former Stormtrooper, Boyega explained it’s not so simple and that Finn’s initial instinct to flee still remains. “It got really real for him,” Boyega shared. “And he just wants to get away and not be involved. His intention in the first place was to go to the Outer Rim. He was always brought back [in The Force Awakens,], but this is his chance to get away and perhaps find Rey and go off together. He’s trying to do that at first.”
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Though we still don’t know the circumstances of Rose and Finn’s unexpected partnership, Boyega did expound on the dynamic between the two. “He appreciates the adoration for a second, but when he meets her, Finn is trying to escape the whole war. He’s trying to leave,” Boyega said. “And she comes in and basically gives him a depiction of himself that wasn’t necessarily true.”
However, Rose’s own rosy view of Finn helps motivate him for the better. “It’s now an opportunity for him to be the best he can be. He has to make a decision, and Rose is there to help him make that choice,” Boyega teased.
Starring Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, Andy Serkis, Benicio del Toro, Laura Dern and Kelly Marie Tran Star Wars: The Last Jedi hits our galaxy Dec. 15