When Han Solo met his tragic end during The Force Awakens, there was one character we felt sorry for more than anyone else. Yes, our sympathies were with his estranged wife Leia as well, but mostly we felt bad for Han’s best buddy, Chewbacca – the pair have been travelling around the galaxy in the Millennium Falcon even before the events of the original trilogy, after all. So, how will the fuzzball deal with this loss in Star Wars: The Last Jedi?
While speaking to Entertainment Weekly as part of their extensive coverage of the upcoming film, writer and director Rian Johnson explained that the Wookie will be handling it the best he can in The Last Jedi. However, his grief will make him “a little more volatile than usual.”
“Chewie’s doing all right. It’s tough. It was obviously a big loss for him, but, you know, he’s Chewie. He’s resilient,” said Johnson.
The director also thinks that it helps that Chewie’s jumped straight into a new mission, and that he’s formed a new friendship with Rey (who Han welcomed on board the Falcon crew before his death).
“He’s got broad Wookie shoulders, and he also has a new mission. He’s got Rey, and she’s someone that Han, to a certain extent, handed the keys to. So I think that helps. If Chewie was just unemployed and sitting at home, things might be a little rougher, but he’s got a task to focus on.”
Let’s hope that Johnson hasn’t sidelined Chewie like J.J. Abrams did in his film. Fans didn’t like it when Leia’s seen hugging Rey, instead of Chewie, after Han’s death, but to be fair to the director, he did admit that this decision was “one of the mistakes” he made on the film.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi will feature Peter Mayhew and Joonas Suotamo sharing the role of Chewbacca when it blasts into theatres on December 15th.