Warning: spoilers for Star Wars – The Last Jedi lie ahead.
Laura Dern has said that she believes her character Vice Admiral Holdo is in tune with the Force.
Does this mean she would have been able to pull off a Leia-style evasion of the dead at the end of The Last Jedi?
She was seen making a spectacular sacrifice by ramming her ship into the enemy, presumably ending her own life in the process.
“In their minds, and in their understanding of the origin story, we know that she was a true rebel in the Resistance, and in our culture we might have called her a hippie,” she told Entertainment Weekly.
“But she was longing for peace, and a revolutionary in that way, and wanted to be trained by and led by Leia, who taught her everything she knew.
“She wanted to come up in the ranks to support Leia’s mission, but also had this otherworldly side that does involve the Force.”
She added: “There’s something about her that longs to protect it, and holds that with great care.
“There’s a sort of a light on and a wisdom that she speaks about in the film, and speaks to Oscar Isaac’s character briefly about it.
“Yeah, her primary goal was to protect the light, to protect the Force, and to keep the revolutionaries alive.”
So Dern’s not explicitly saying Dern is a Force user as able as Leia – but with Carrie Fisher passing away after shooting for Episode 8, the franchise needs a female authority figure more than ever.
Could Holdo be a contender and return in Episode 9? Time will tell.
JJ Abrams is in charge of the trilogy finale, and will reportedly start filming this summer.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is out on DVD and Blu-ray on April 9.
