Today, Entertainment Weekly has released a new image from Ron Howard’s upcoming film, Solo: A Star Wars Story. As you can see below, it features Quay Tolsite, a new character whose existence was first made known to the world when a picture of his LEGO figure was leaked online.
Tolsite’s a member of the Pykes, a race of criminals that deals in spices and was created for the animated TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which was cancelled in 2013. Fans will recall the Pyke Syndicate was in league with Darth Maul and helped him form the Shadow Collective, a group consisting of the most powerful crime families in that galaxy far, far away. This fell apart shortly after the events of the four-part Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir comic, however.
Now, Quay Tolsite, on behalf of his brethren, is on Kessel. The planet, first mentioned in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, appears onscreen for the first time in Solo and is feared by C-3PO for its spice mines, so it makes sense there would be Pyke activity there.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Pyke Syndicate operates at the height of the evil Galactic Empire’s power, as well as to see how it uses Quay Tolsite and why the character is on Kessel in the first place. It’s worth mentioning that the Pykes are the second element from Star Wars: The Clone Wars to be portrayed in live-action during the events of a Star Wars Anthology film, too. The first was Saw Gerrera, who made his cinematic debut in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, in which he was portrayed by Forest Whitaker.
Audiences can see the unlawful alien in action when Solo: A Star Wars Story lands in theaters on May 25th, 2018. And if the critics are to be believed, we’re in for quite a treat.