Star Wars is one of the most popular film franchises of all time, with generations growing up on the galaxy far, far away. A ton of content has been released since Disney acquired Lucasfilm, including live-action shows, the sequel trilogy, and a few standalone films. Ron Howard’s Solo: A Star Wars Story is in the latter category, although plans for a sequel never came to fruition. And Solo’s writer recently explained why he still wants to see more of Emilia Clarke’s character Qi’ra.
Game of Thrones icon made a strong Star Wars entrance as Qi’ra in Solo, even getting to share a scene with Maul in his surprising cameo. Unfortunately we never got to see these narrative seeds bloom, thanks to the movie’s disappointing box office performance. Writer Jonathan Kasdan explained to THR why Clarke’s character was set up be such an important part of the franchise, saying:
Before I got involved and before anyone was involved, my dad was really passionate about creating a different kind of femme fatale in the Star Wars universe, someone who was sincerely morally ambiguous. Qi'ra had grown up very hard, she'd had a life that forced her to become a survivor, and she was going to have to make tough choices that Han [Alden Ehrenreich] couldn't quite make. Even in the final moments of his life, Han was always going to be undone by his humanism and his heart, but Qi'ra was on the other side of the line.
And suddenly I’m feeling the need for a re-watch of Solo: A Star Wars Story. In the movie’s opening sequence, Han is able to escape Corellia, while Qi’ra is left behind and ends up joining Crimson Dawn. This one moment changed both of their lives’ forever, and by the end of the movie we see how it’ll further influence their future. Unfortunately we never got to actually see their story continue on the screen.
Jonathan Kasdan’s comments to THR come as he was promoting the release of the Willow series on Disney+. Eventually he weighed in on Solo, and the ongoing chatter online about the standalone movie finally getting a sequel. And it sounds like part of the reason why he’s still interested is related to Emilia Clarke’s performance as Qi’ra.
Later in that same conversation, Jonathan Karsdan further explained what makes Qi’ra such a great character. Namely it’s how she’s not a hero or a villain, instead operating within the margins of the Star Wars universe. He spoke about the Solo breakout character by saying:
So what I thought Emilia brought to it wonderfully is that she's not evil or duplicitous. She's a survivor and she's maneuvering through all these different powerful entities to get to the end of the game. As the years have gone by and there has been more Star Wars, my enthusiasm for doing more Solo has waned only because there's so much great Star Wars out there right now. But the thing that I would love to revisit is the relationship between the two of them, because there's so much fun and complexity to be found in the relationship between Han and Qi'ra.
The dichotomy between Han Solo and Qi’ra would have presumably grown even more in a sequel, especially after she killed Dryden Vos and took his place. And having Maul as a boss would no doubt create some high stakes situations. Unfortunately there’s currently no plans for the studio to continue that story.
While Solo 2 was scrapped after the first movie’s performance at the box office, Qi’ra’s story was continued through comic books. What’s more, she even got to eventually meet Leia, which is a wild crossover that wouldn’t be possible on the big screen. Since we’re in a drought of Star Wars movies, I wonder if a second Solo movie would be even more appealing.
All Star Wars movies are currently streaming on Disney+, where there will also be a variety of live-action shows airing throughout the year. In the meantime, checkout the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience. We’ll just have to wait and see which if/when various announced Star Wars movies actually start filming.
