Warning: SPOILERS for Solo: A Star Wars Story are ahead!
Solo: A Star Wars Story explored a lot of integral moments from Han Solo's younger years, including meeting Lando Calrissian. But the future Cloud City administrator wasn't alone when he crossed paths with the aspiring smuggler; he was accompanied by L3-37, an opinionated droid fighting who fought for the rights of her fellow droids when she wasn't co-piloting the Millennium Falcon. Unfortunately, during the coaxium heist on Kessel, L3-37 was gunned down, but her mind was soon after downloaded into the Falcon, and upon taking control of the ship's navigation control, she helped Han, Lando, Chewbacca, Qi'ra and Tobias Beckett escape the Kessel run. Thanks to the Solo novelization arriving next month, we know what L3's last moments were before she became something different.
Droids are different from intelligent life forms in the Star Wars universe, but one thing they share in common is a body, whether it's a humanoid-design or differently shaped. As revealed in the Solo: A Star Wars Story novelization excerpt posted on StarWars.com, when L3-37 awakens in the Millennium Falcon computer, she's disoriented, initially wanting to tell Lando Calrissian something, but then realizing she doesn't have a head and instead seeing everything through the Falcon's cameras. The ship's "voices" then greet L3 and catch her up to speed, and while L3 states that once she's in a new body, she can get back in the co-pilot's seat, the Falcon tells her it's not that simple. L3 has one of two choices: she can die with her last act being the successful liberation of the droids on Kessel, or she can join the Falcon and "be part of something much bigger." L3 doesn't want to become part of the ship, but after putting up some resistance, she learns that as the navigational computer's been rebooting, she'd already decided to join; she just has trouble admitting it. In her final moments, the droid feels that she's no longer just L3 or just the Falcon. They "are new."
While somewhat depressing, at least this excerpt provides added context to what happened to L3-37 during Solo: A Star Wars Story. If she hadn't decided to merge with the Millennium Falcon's computer, Lando and the gang would have died while making the Kessel Run, so rather than passing on, she had to sacrifice her individuality. If it's any consolation, as evidenced by C-3PO noting in The Empire Strikes Back that the Falcon has "the most peculiar dialect," it appears there's still some of L3 lingering in the ship. Of course, as we all know, Han later won the Falcon from Lando in a game of sabacc, although years later, Lando "reunited" with L3 when he piloted the ship in the attack on the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi. With Lando set to return in Episode IX, maybe he'll get to sit in the pilot's chair again one last time.
Solo: A Star Wars Story will be available on Digital HD September 14, with the Blu-ray and DVD copies hitting shelves on September 25. As for what else is coming up in the Star Wars franchise, consult our handy guide.
