Solo: A Star Wars Story Actress Blasts Lucasfilm's Treatment of Her Character

Solo: A Star Wars Story isn't exactly a film that is considered part of the upper echelon when talking about Star Wars spinoff projects and while it did fairly decently at the box office and even gained a cult following, some fans weren't that pleased with the film in general. Turns out, one of the film's stars shares the same sentiment, and three years following its release, she's blasting Lucasfilm over its unjust treatment of her character.



Actress Thandiwe Newton played Val in the 2018 flick and during the time, her casting was considered a monumental feat as it marked the first time a female Black character was given a lead role in the Star Wars franchise. Unfortunately, Val's stay in the galaxy far, far away was short-lived as she was eventually killed off but according to Thandiwe herself, that wasn't always the case.

Speaking with Inverse, The star of Hugh Jackman's latest film Reminiscence shared her true feelings about Lucasfilm mishandling her character. According to her, the initial script she got called for a different fate for Val but due to what sounded like a cost-cutting measure from the company, her creation direction was completely changed.

"I felt disappointed by Star Wars that my character was killed. And, actually, in the script, she wasn't killed. It happened during filming. 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," she said.

Newton went on to say that Lucasfilm dropped the ball big time on the character. She added: "I remembered at the time thinking, 'This is a big, big mistake' - not because of me, not because I wanted to come back. You don't kill off the first Black woman to ever have a real role in a Star Wars movie. Like, are you f***ing joking?"

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The production company has long been plagued by accusations of mistreatment when it came to characters portrayed by people of color. The issue became a huge deal in Hollywood when John Boyega controversially voiced his opinion towards Lucasfilm and Disney last year. In the end, both parties were able to mend the fence but by the looks of it, the same thing can't be said for Thandiwe.


Solo: A Star Wars Story is available for streaming on Disney+.