Remember Solo: A Star Wars Story? If not, you aren't the only one.
Star Wars fans and not alike missed this telling of the youth of Han Solo, starring Alden Ehrenreich as the titular scruffy-looking nerf-herder along with Emilia Clarke in a new role.
The movie hit theaters in 2018 to an extremely lukewarm reception. But one person who did not have a lukewarm reception for it was Thandiwe Newton whose character Val received a rather unceremonious death.
\u201cI remembered at the time thinking, \u2018This is a big, big mistake,'" Thandiwe Newton said of her character's death in #SoloAStarWarsStory.' "You don\u2019t kill off the first Black woman to ever have a real role in a #StarWars movie. Like, are you f---ng joking?\u201d https://thr.cm/NrVg9FH\u00a0pic.twitter.com/g9H7VkT10l— The Hollywood Reporter (@The Hollywood Reporter) 1629997372
Her character\u2019s death was so out of pocket tbh.— service is Universal (@service is Universal) 1629998594
Right?!?! I was so bummed as she was the character/actor whose story I was most excited to see! Maybe SW can say she wanted to leave her bf and faked her death so she could come back sometime or something, but idk if she\u2019d want to now.— Lilibet Diana & Archie Harrison \ud83d\udc96 (@Lilibet Diana & Archie Harrison \ud83d\udc96) 1630000166
The tragic yt boys in the comments only further prove how toxic Star Wars fanboys are Star Wars has always used Black actors as propshttps://twitter.com/THR/status/1430938808850206727\u00a0\u2026— Ty Allen (@Ty Allen) 1630038437
The scene killed me.she and Donald were the best thing abt the movie.https://twitter.com/THR/status/1430938808850206727\u00a0\u2026— tory's restraining order (@tory's restraining order) 1630021239
Newton said she thought it was a completely tone deaf mistake by the movie to kill her character off.
"You don't kill off the first Black woman to ever have a real role in a Star Wars movie," she said in an interview with Inverse. "Like, are you f**king joking?"
Newton later said the decision to kill Val was made after she'd signed onto the project and was made hastily.
"....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."
Agreed as she was a highlight in that film!https://twitter.com/thr/status/1430938808850206727\u00a0\u2026— 24Play21 (@24Play21) 1630004450
Man I can't wait for everyone to weaponize her perfectly legitimate grievance to continue pushing their narrative like they did with Boyega...https://twitter.com/THR/status/1430938808850206727\u00a0\u2026— Mason Harris (@Mason Harris) 1629999083
It was! Beyond stupid.https://twitter.com/thr/status/1430938808850206727\u00a0\u2026— Papi. (@Papi.) 1629997799
https://twitter.com/thr/status/1430938808850206727\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/AD9Pg2ntNj— Jerry Chen \u2764\ufe0f\ud83c\udf9e (@Jerry Chen \u2764\ufe0f\ud83c\udf9e) 1629997657
Originally, the character's fate was supposed to be interpretive, with no clear indicators she'd died.
"But when we came to filming, as far as I was concerned and was aware, when it came to filming that scene, it was too huge a set-piece to create, so they just had me blow up and I'm done."
But even then, Newton knew the movie was making a big mistake.
gonna use this video for people saying she shouldn't make it about race, she did not, nor did john, star wars made it about race wasting characters because they are blackpic.twitter.com/K5le4A7df8— kira \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@kira \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1629969266
Thandiwe Newton, John Boyega, Kelly Marie Tran, Daisy Ridley & Adam Driver all deserved a proper Star Wars movie trilogy with a script that wasn\u2019t rushed or with a movie that should of kept its original directors! She shouldn\u2019t have died in Solo: A Star Wars Story that was wrong!pic.twitter.com/1sO2whiqmI— Josh \u2764\ufe0f Free Guy & What If...? #BlackLivesMatter (@Josh \u2764\ufe0f Free Guy & What If...? #BlackLivesMatter) 1629927407
she has every reason to be angryhttps://twitter.com/DiscussingFilm/status/1430618165176852483\u00a0\u2026— esdee \u00b2\u1d30\u00b9\u1d3a | HOMETOWN CHA CHA CHA 8/28 (@esdee \u00b2\u1d30\u00b9\u1d3a | HOMETOWN CHA CHA CHA 8/28) 1630020979
Oh my god wtf\nAnd she was so cool too wtf???https://twitter.com/discussingfilm/status/1430618165176852483\u00a0\u2026— lore \u2316 hunter\u2019s gf (@lore \u2316 hunter\u2019s gf) 1630009136
\u201cToo big a set piece\u201d is such a weak excuse. It\u2019s really not that hard to not kill a character. I love Solo but her death was by far the most disappointing part of the movie for me.https://twitter.com/DiscussingFilm/status/1430618165176852483\u00a0\u2026— Shaley (she/her) (@Shaley (she/her)) 1629990707
The Star Wars franchise has quite a few new things on its plate, including new series and new films all coming out within the next few years.
Hopefully production teams hail Newton's words and future projects are handled more thoughtfully.
