Kelly Marie Tran Addresses Her Limited Screentime In Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker

While the recent Star Wars movie The Rise of Skywalker was the follow-up to 2017's The Last Jedi, there's no denying that director and co-writer JJ Abrams made a few changes to the story and characters that Rian Johnson had created for The Last Jedi. One of the biggest disappointments for many Last Jedi fans was the very limited screen time given to Resistance fighter Rose Tico, played by Kelly Marie Tran. Now Tran has commented on this.

Rose was one of The Last Jedi's main characters, but only appeared in The Rise of Skywalker very briefly. Speaking at the recent Academy Awards, Tran was didn't seem too upset about it. "I think that I'm just amazed at the way that JJ Abrams was able to sort of wrap up all these incredible stories," she said, via GamesRadar. "There were so many characters… I got to be part of something bigger than me and that's something really special."

Tran was also asked about the wider criticism The Rise of Skywalker received from both critics and fans. "When you're in something of that calibre, there's always people working to make something out of love, and no matter what you do, there's always going to be people who aren't happy with that," she said. "I'm really grateful that I got to be a part of it."

Tran left social media in 2018, following online abuse she suffered after The Last Jedi's release. In August that year, she wrote an op-ed for the New York Times in which she discussed the racism she had experienced throughout her life.

The Rise of Skywalker has so far made $1.06 billion at the worldwide box office, and this week overtook the box office total of 2016's spin-off Rogue One. However, we might not see any new Star Wars movies for some time. Disney CEO Bob Iger recently stated that TV is the priority for the franchise right now, with The Mandalorian Season 2 due to hit Disney+ later this year. In addition, the Obi-Wan TV show is still expected to air in 2021, although that show hit some recent pre-production delays.