Jon Kasdan Thinks Thandie Newton Was 'Too Good' For Her Role In Solo: A Star Wars Story

There was a whole lot of excitement when Lucasfilm announced that Thandie Newton was being cast in Solo: A Star Wars Story. The English actress who's appeared in movies like Beloved and Mission: Impossible 2 started gaining even more prominence thanks to HBO's science fiction Western television series, Westworld.

However, while a number of Star Wars fans expected Newton to take on a considerable role in the Han Solo standalone, her character Val just had a tiny bit of screen time before her death.

Heading to Twitter, Solo co-writer Jonathan Kasdan also admitted that he felt the same way, saying that he thought Newton was way too good just to have such little time on the big screen. Though the younger Kasdan knows that he and his father, the legendary Star Wars writer Lawrence Kasdan, always planned to have Beckett lose his crew members in the film, Jon couldn't help but feel that the death of Newton's character felt like a "cheat."

"In retrospect, Thandie Newton may have actually been too good and too interesting as Val," the writer shared on Twitter. "It was always in the design of the story that Beckett would lose his trusted crew members during the Conveyex Job-gone-wrong and be forced to rely on newbies, Han and Chewie, and this would also open the door for Lando, Qi'ra, and L3 to join the crew, but Thandie is so compelling to watch that the death of her character feels a little like a cheat. It's an odd and unexpected problem that comes with working with such amazing, compelling actors in the Star Wars universe. You just want more of them."

Though Newton did pretty well performing as Val, Beckett's (Woody Harrelson) partner-in-crime and partner in life, the character didn't last very long in Solo. After being introduced during the second act of the film, Val decided to sacrifice her life during the Conveyex heist on the planet Vandor.

Of course, while it's such a shame that Val didn't have enough screen time during the film, Lucasfilm wanted a compelling actress to give life to the role. Newton did just that, making Star Wars fans invest in what was supposedly a side-character.

What did you think of Val in Solo: A Star Wars Story? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Read: Jon Kasdan on the Possibility of a Solo: A Star Wars Story Sequel