"Star Wars" Star Kelly Marie Tran Speaks On Shooting Leia’s Final Scenes

Kelly Marie Tran had a difficult introduction into the Star Wars universe. She faced extreme online bullying after starring in The Last Jedi, so much so that she was forced to delete her social media. Tran’s character, Rose Tico, started as a rebel who rose through the ranks to become a top Resistance fighter. Although her screentime was cut down in Rise Of Skywalker, Tran doesn’t seem to mind. She sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to speak about Rise, and also the difficulty of filming scenes with Leia. Moments with Leia, who was played by the legendary Carrie Fisher, were repurposed for Rise, since Fisher passed away after The Last Jedi wrapped. 

Spoilers for Rise Of Skywalker follow. 

Leia passes away in Rise after reaching out to Ben Solo through the force. Speaking on filming that heartbreaking moment, Tran highlighted the gravity of the process. “Yeah… (Tran sighs.) I think it was really emotional for everyone,” she admitted. “There’s definitely a sort of reverence that comes with knowing you’re in a scene like that. I don’t know how else to convey the feeling that I had on set that day, which is a feeling of wanting to make sure we did justice to that moment and to Leia.”

“Yeah, the one thing that was difficult was that you were acting with footage that was prerecorded,” she continued. “So, instead of having an actor there and reacting off the actor, you would sometimes look — in between takes — at how the actor delivered a line and then try to imagine and react to that. So, it definitely took more time and was a very different experience for me. We probably did a lot more takes for scenes with her than without her.” Check out the full interview here.