Drama is unfolding and all does not seem well with the “Star Wars” film “Solo.”
Thandiwe Newton is sounding off about her latest “Star Wars” role and the decision of executives to kill her character.
The film is already the lowest-grossing live-action “Star Wars” film — but will now also be known for choosing to off its first major role Black character.
The Emmy award-winning actress is the first Black woman to be selected for a major role in the Star Wars franchise. The actress says she’s “disappointed” about how her character, Val, was killed off.
“And, actually, in the script, she wasn’t killed. It happened during filming,” she told Inverse
in an interview published this week, “And it was much more just to do with the time we had to do the scenes. It’s much easier just to have me die than it is to have me fall into a vacuum of space so I can come back sometime.”Instead, Newton says that her character’s fate was meant to be ambiguous, but in the end she was offed midway through the film after setting off an explosion.
“So they just had me blow up and I’m done,” she further explained. “I remembered at the time thinking, ‘This is a big, big mistake’ — not because of me, not because I wanted to come back,” Newton added.
“You don’t kill off the first Black woman to ever have a real role in a ‘Star Wars’ movie. Like, are you f*cking joking?”
According to reports, the production on “Solo: A Star Wars Story” has experienced many setbacks and complications. The original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired from the project due to creative differences. Then, Ron Howard came aboard to finish the film and handle extensive reshoots.