Solo: A Star Wars Story holds a somewhat dubious place in the history of Star Wars. It's the lowest grossing entry in the new generation of Star Wars films, and was reportedly the reason that the stand alone Star Wars Story spinoffs films have seemingly collapsed after only two entries. Having said that, the movie is still quite popular among many fans. Calls for a sequel have never completely gone away, mostly because there were characters in the movie that fans really want to see get continued. Now, one of them is getting a future, as Qi'ra, the character played by Emilia Clarke in the film, just made her comic book debut.
A new Star Wars comic offering, War of the Bounty Hunters, just launched, and in the first issue you'll find Qi'ra, who is still working with Crimson Dawn, the criminal enterprise that she allied herself with at the end of Solo: A Star Wars Story. Fans will certainly be happy to see Qi'ra's story continuing, but one person who is especially happy is Emilia Clarke herself, who recently told Comicbook.com that simply seeing her character as a part of the universe means a great deal to her. According to Clarke...
It means so much. It means the absolute world. I know her backstory. I know her history. Maybe the movie didn't get to go there, but that was such an honor and a privilege to be part of that universe as an actor. So then, to see the character actually be taken on to the origin of all of it — bringing it on home to the family in that way — cemented it in a way. I was not expecting to feel as moved as I was by that.
Star Wars as a franchise is over 40 years old and so many of today's actors grew up with it. For those that were fans of any major franchise the desire to become part of that franchise is clearly strong. However, beyond simply bringing a character to life there's also the possibility that the character can live on and become an entrenched part of that universe. Emilia Clarke may never get a chance to play Qi'ra again, but Qi'ra isn't going anywhere, and so Emilia Clarke's influence on the franchise will forever be there as well.
At this point it seems highly unlikely that there ever will be a sequel to Solo: A Star Wars Story. While fan campaigns have been fighting for such things, none of the people involved in creating the first movie have given much hope of a sequel.
Still, who knows? Even if we don't get a direct sequel another movie that includes a character like Qi'ra or a Disney+ series that does the same is certainly a possibility. As we see the galaxy far, far away expand, nothing seems entirely impossible.
