Since Star Wars: The Last Jedi picks up immediately where The Force Awakens ends, we know exactly what Rey will be doing as the movie opens. Other characters, however, are a bit less clear. What's going to happen back at the Resistance base while Rey and Luke get to know each other? We've seen in trailers that the Resistance is going to fall under attack. This will lead to a mass evacuation, led by Poe Dameron and others who work to take down an enemy Dreadnought in order to help others escape.
The information comes from, of all places, an upcoming A-wing model set (via Making Star Wars), which comes with a book describing what the A-wing has done throughout the saga. This includes a description of an attack by the First Order on the Resistance home following the destruction of Starkiller Base. Since it doesn't make much sense for the First Order to wait half a movie to make the attack, we're guessing this will be part of the film's opening, probably some of the first scenes we get involving the Resistance.
We've previously seen images of the First Order's Dreadnought, a ship that's so big that it makes the Empire's Super Star Destroyers look small. Now, we know when we'll be seeing it, and it looks to be fairly early in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. According to the book, a squadron of A-wings along with Poe Dameron and the Resistance's assault bombers will take the fight to the Dreadnought. We're not sure exactly how a bunch of small fighters are going to take out a ship that massive, at least not without blueprints and a map to a specific weakness. A-wings will also act as guards for the Resistance transports leaving the system.
A-wings have been an often overlooked part of the Resistance fleet, but it looks like they might be getting a bit more time to shine in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The leader of the A-wings working with Poe Dameron has an actual name, Tallie Lintra, which is more than we can say about most A-wing pilots in the saga. We also know who will be playing the role in the movie, as Rian Johnson revealed it will be actress Hermione Corfield.
If this all fits, and takes place in the way that it seems to, then it appears that the parallels between the first and third Star Wars trilogy are set to continue, as The Empire Strikes Back also opened with an evacuation. Having said that, while that one focused more on the attack on the planet's surface, this one looks to deal primarily with the actual escape in space. We'll get to see it all when Star Wars: The Last Jedi arrives December 15.
