Kelly Marie Tran‘s Rose Tico was introduced in ‘The Last Jedi’ and was the first woman of color with a significant role in a ‘Star Wars’ movie. Earlier this year, ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ director J.J. Abrams called the casting of Tran the “greatest thing” that Rian Johnson did with his sequel. Yet she barely appears in Abrams’ ‘The Rise of Skywalker’. In fact, a writer for Slate used a timer app and concluded that Rose appears on screen for just over ONE minute! And that was generous.
As writer Violet Kim stated:
“While I tried to be strict about only letting the timer run when Rose was actually onscreen, my definition of “onscreen” was generous. For example, I included the scene at the end where she hugs Chewbacca at the Rebel base, although it’s possible to argue that she wasn’t quite in the foreground of the action. I was so alert for any sign of Rose that I even included the part where she is only seen in (partial) profile staring intently at Poe while he speaks.”
This news was delivered via Twitter:
#RoseTico played by the iconic Kelly Marie Tran only has 1min 16 sec of screen time, out the 2h 22m runtime of #StarWars: #TheRiseOfSkywalker.
Source: @Slate pic.twitter.com/ePFZ1wPk2K
— Nerdy PoC (@NerdyPoC) December 26, 2019
Among the comments, @AnooshInTheSun wrote:
“Definitely the worst part of RoS is Rose Tico getting demoted to a background character. Rose was such a fantastic character. It’s horrible if racist and misogynistic fan boys kept her out.”
@heartsleevedLB responded:
“One of the many flaws in this film without question. Wish I could confidently say it was just for the sake of better storytelling but Rose earned a spot as a member of the main team even w/o Finn romance continuity. That ‘Leia needs me here’ was lazy.”
Another fan, @heatherfinley, wrote:
“If a male character had saved another character from defecting, figured out what the enemy was doing and how to stop it, figured out how to escape Canto Bight, and saved another character from suicide, he would have been a huge character in the third movie. #JUSTICEFORROSETICO.”
After the release of ‘The Last Jedi’, Tran was famously tormented online by misogynists and racists, which drove her to quit social media and seek professional therapy. But Abrams’ sidelining of Rose doesn’t appear to be the result of racism, considering that he introduced another woman of color, Naomi Ackie as Jannah. Instead, it seems as though he wanted to focus on the trio he introduced in ‘The Force Awakens’– Rey, Poe, and Finn.
While ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ is the end of the “Skywalker Saga,” there was at least one thread left that could be followed up in another movie or a Disney+ series– the question of Jannah’s origin. But it seems some would like to see the further adventures of Rose, and that includes John M. Chu, director of ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ who expressed a desire to create a show for Disney+.
Ok @disneyplus . Put me in coach. Let’s make this series happen. #RoseTicoDeservedBetter @starwars
— Jon M. Chu (@jonmchu) December 27, 2019
Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, and John Boyega have all nixed the idea of returning in their ‘Star Wars’ roles, but it’s possible that Tran and others could come back, especially if they felt there was more story to tell for their characters.
What do you think? Would you like to see more of Rose?
