'Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker:' Kelly Marie Tran sees herself in Rose

Alex Biese | Asbury Park Press

Show Caption Hide Caption 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' proclaims the end of the saga The final trailer for "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker," the final movie in the 42-year Skywalker saga, is here.

“Star Wars” franchise player Kelly Marie Tran knows that she and her character, Resistance fighter Rose Tico, have gone on remarkably similar journeys in recent years.

Introduced in 2017’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and returning in the saga-concluding “Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker” out Friday, Rose is a character who lived much of her life at the relative periphery before fate and her own dedication brought her to the heart of the action.

“She had a crazy journey last time, coming from this place where she was very much someone in the background of the Resistance and being really enamored with the sort of frontmen of the Resistance, and then becoming one of them,” Tran said. “And I think there’s been a year in between these films and she’s sort of now in a place where she’s very much seeing the day to day operations of what the Resistance is, and I think that definitely has affected who she is.”

STAR WARS 101: Everything you need to know about the franchise before 'Rise of Skywalker'

In a franchise consistently focused the Skywalkers — the Force-powered family with regal lineage — Rose represented something different: the galactic proletariat, the blue collar membership of the Resistance.

And Tran – the 30-year-old daughter of Vietnamese refugees who was the first woman of color to play a leading role in the 40-year history of “Star Wars” – said she was acutely aware of the responsibility that came with the role.

“If there’s anybody that over-analyzed her responsibilities, it was me. I definitely felt the weight of authentically portraying a character who felt like she didn’t belong in that world. But then she was in that world and it was sort of like this paradoxical thing,” Tran said.

“And I also, I think because of the way that I was raised and the way that I grew up, I very much saw myself and see myself as someone who was the everyman, brought into a world that I didn’t think I belonged in," she said. "Before ('Last Jedi'), I was a struggling actor working a day job, and I think I still struggle with a lot of the social aspects of where I am now in my career.”

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The box office results for Tran’s franchise debut “The Last Jedi” were massive, with the film grossing more than $1.3 billion worldwide. But director Rian Johnson’s film was also met with a divided, at-times contentious response from viewers, and by that summer Tran had deleted all of her Instagram posts following months of online harassment.

Since Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and director J.J. Abrams re-launched the franchise under Disney’s ownership with “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” in 2015, the series has steadily grown in terms of representation — a movement that grows steadily with the hearteningly inclusive depiction of the Resistance in "Rise of Skywalker."

Under Disney, there is room in the galaxy for all types of people, regardless of gender, age, race or body type. Asked why she believes it’s important for a franchise like “Star Wars” to move in that direction, Tran said she wishes that was a question she didn’t have to answer.

“I wish that we were so equally represented across socioeconomic class, across race, gender, abilities, religions, everything. I wish we were so equally represented that we didn’t have to address this,” she said. “Like, that would be a wonderful world, but at the same time we’re not there yet so we do have to sort of talk about this.

“And it’s important for people to be able to see themselves represented doing things that are impossible because then it makes them realize that maybe they can also do those things, too. I know that for me, even watching ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ (2018), for me was a very emotional, wonderful experience. Just seeing these women flourish as well in their careers inspires me, and I’m a fully-grown adult woman. So imagining someone who is a kid watching that, it really makes me excited to see what the next generation is like.”

It’s a role that “Star Wars” is more than capable of taking on. Over the years science-fiction and fantasy have shown themselves to be particularly well-suited to discussing the issues society is grappling with in an empathetic, stylized way.

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“You’re not sitting someone down and being like, ‘Here are your textbooks that you have to read,’” Tran said. “It’s almost like, ‘Let’s just put them in a world and just have them interact as characters.’ And we’re not really saying outwardly all of these things, but just the idea that these people also belong and can exist in this world. That’s a statement in itself.”

Abrams returned to the franchise to direct “Rise of Skywalker.” The film is being billed as the concluding entry in a nine-movie epic focused on the Skywalker family that started with the original “Star Wars” in 1977, and Tran promises viewers “a really insanely emotional and exciting ride.”

Post-“Star Wars,” Tran said she plans to get back into acting and writing classes. She may be a co-star in one of cinema’s biggest franchises, but Tran said she wants to continually push herself.

“This experience has been so wonderfully eye-opening and educating, and I know that the best actors are constantly searching for ways to discover more about their craft,” she said. “And I think for me this whole thing has been so all-consuming and I’m excited to just get back into learning and then pursue other projects that are different and that just make me want to view the world differently.

“I’ve always wanted to play characters that make me step outside myself, so until that happens I’m very specific about not choosing things just to choose things because I don’t want to just be busy, I want to be inspired. So I’m going to try and follow that.”

“Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker,” 142 minutes, rated PG-13, opens Friday, Dec. 20, www.starwars.com.