‘Rise of Skywalker’s Editor Explains Its Lack of Rose Tico
Among the abandoned questions and noticeable plot holes in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, many Star Wars viewers are upset that we barely get to see Rose Tico, a major character of The Last Jedi. She was set up to become a major force in the Resistance and a large part of Finn’s character arc, and then she just kinda ... faded into the background. Out of its 142-minute runtime, Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose is in the movie for just 76 seconds.
Star Wars editor Maryann Brandon (who recently dispelled a rumor about Episode IX using a potentially recycled shot) weighs in on the lack of Rose in the new movie. In an interview with HuffPost, she explains: “There were a lot of characters in the film, and because J.J. wanted to make this film about a journey of the three main friends and then Rey’s conflict with Kylo Ren, it became very hard to service a lot more characters.” She goes on to assure fans that Rose is an “important character in the Resistance” and that the team “tried very hard to show that,” which is why Brandon cut to her a few different times during the final battle sequence.
It’s no secret at this point that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker left many fans confused. Because many fans’ responses to plot decisions made in The Last Jedi were resoundingly negative, The Rise of Skywalker flat out pretends they never happened. Rather than continue the story set up by Episode VIII, Episode IX breaks the first rule of improv: say "Yes, AND.”
Gallery — The Biggest Unanswered Questions in ‘The Rise of Skywalker’: