There’s a one page star wars fan comic that
I really think elevates a key scene from The Force Awakens.
In the film Han Solo is murdered by Kylo Ren and Chewbacca, enraged, shoots a bowcaster bolt
at Ren, catching his side. It’s a pretty clear shot but Chewbacca gets him in the side because
it’s a movie, right? We all know that for some reason getting stabbed or shot in the
side is a non-fatal wound you can walk off by the laws of cinema. [Thanos stabs Tony]
But this comic adds a little bit more context to this moment, flashing back to a young Ben Solo
from Chewbacca’s perspective. The wookie loves Han Solo’s child and cares for him immensely. He
finds it heartbreaking when he can’t help him as he grows up and becomes increasingly frustrated.
So when it comes time to shoot the dark lord down, even after killing Han Solo,
he just can’t do it. He moves that kill shot to something less lethal, and fires - knowing it
won’t be enough to stop the mighty Kylo Ren. That’s the most Chewbacca’s heart can take.
The simple sketched style of the comic perfectly compliments the notion of Ben’s
childhood and what has been lost, and honestly seeing Chewie’s sad little face - fuck man.
You’re making me sadder than the movie did.
Artist Tyson Murphy, who has a great page worth checking out, link in the description
below - was responsible for this little piece of head canon that I’ve always accepted to be true.
It’s kinda heartbreaking to me, and ever since I saw it all the way back in 2016 I expected
the sequel trilogy to honour the perceived relationship between Ben and Chewie in some way.
Cut to 2019. The trilogy is done. Pretty much everyone in the Rise of Skywalker gets character
assassinated and weirdly the only person that truly comes out unscatched is Lando Calrissian;
the former administrator of Cloud City shows up and cuts the cheque, only appearing in about
three or four small scenes. In other words, there’s not enough screen time to screw him up
and his appearances have nothing to do with the bullshit lore reveals. There’s even a
moment where he inspires Poe that actually isn’t awful - well done Rise of Skywalker!
But I feel like both aging heroes of the Rebelllion miss out on a huge opportunity,
one that was set up across the trilogy inadvertently and would have solved the issue of
trying to make the late Carrie Fisher relevant to the story through archived clips and composites.
In any story you want the most unexpected thing to happen that also feels exactly right for the
story. You want to give people something they hadn’t considered, but something that doesn’t
feel like a bait and switch to what you’ve been told. It should be unpredictable but satisfying.
We might expect someone like Jedi Master Luke Skywalker or father of Ren Han Solo to be the
ones that could pull Ben Solo back to the light. Once Carrie Fisher had unfortunately passed,
and the story had already reached a point where Luke and Han had both failed to change Ren,
who are the most likely candidates to do the seemingly impossible?
Lando and Chewie are in an interesting position in relation to Ben Solo.
They would have no doubt spent lots of time with him growing up, but they’re not his father or
Luke - and they don’t come with the same baggage. Lando Calrissian is the definition of the fun
uncle isn’t he? And Chewbacca is simultaneously like a grandad and the family dog at the same
time. He’s old and learned and wise, but he’s also very tactile and animalistic and loving.
They must have shared some great memories with Ben Solo and they must love him very much.
Chewbacca has the same qualities as R2 and C3PO in that he has lived long enough
to see the cycles of war and violence that permeate the star wars universe.
He has lived long enough to see the same eyes in different people and it’s always awesome when
the films show that he’s actually really wise and learned in spite of being a big old grizzly teddy
bear. He deserved more than a fake out death, just like C3PO deserved more than a fake out death.
What’s with all the bullshit fake outs in this movie? Anti-tension.
Lando was put off until the final installment of the sequel trilogy, and up until that point
Chewie had no scenes with Ren - so it just makes sense to me to give them something juicy to do
rather than just palm them off to go get reinforcements. What a bland use of both of them…
I would have loved to see Lando and Chewie just tell Kylo Ren that they still love him,
in spite of everything - rather than trying to tell him to come home or face
off with him - maybe they just could have been kind. Lando isn’t his father
and he has no right to tell him what to do, but perhaps that would be a good
thing. The pair are a little more distant than Ben’s parents, but are still considered family.
I quite frankly love the idea that even when he’s murdering Han Solo, Chewbacca just can’t
bring himself to deliver the killing blow. So he’s not going to hurt him when we come to episode 9.
And likewise, no matter how evil Kylo Ren claims to be, I just can’t see him hurting Chewie. He’s
not got the anger he had for his father, Chewbacca has only ever tried to help him and he knows that.
I don’t think we were ever going to get such a moment with Lando, but concept art exists
showing Kylo reuniting with Chewbacca when he’s imprisoned on the first order ship.
There was potential for some kind of exchange to occur between these key characters,
even if it remains unclear if anything was ever shot.
So, what if we go along with the idea that Chewie gets captured - let’s say
Lando joins the Passana team and he ends up on Kylo’s ship along with the others.
Oh, and important context - in the first scene on Mustafar,
one of the Vader cultists shoots Ren and it tears a blaster hole through his cape.
Kylo Ren confronts the captured Chewbacca - the wookie lowly growls - catching Ren off
guard. He was expecting the rage of a Kahssyk native, but instead Chewbacca is just… very sad.
So very sad to be in his presence. He doesn’t appear to struggle in his restraints,
even though Kylo Ren knows that he could probably make a pretty good effort at breaking them.
The wookie is defeated, but not because he’s captured.
For the first time in the movie, Ren can’t find the words.
And then Lando appears before him - the biggest brass balls you’ve ever seen to just walk up to
one of the most powerful force users in the galaxy with no weapons, just a seriously sweet cape.
Ren immediately gets on the defensive - telling him that he could cut him down in seconds.
Lando plays it off with a bit of smuggler swagger and makes Kylo feel embarrassed
for even saying it - it’s clear Lando isn’t scared of him and he never will be.
Lando steps closer to Ren and it feels like the oxygen has left the room.
Calrissian raises a hand - and touches the fabric of the dark lord’s cape.
They have a sweet exchange where Lando points out that he still takes his advice
on the best materials - “Geonosian Silk. A fine choice.” Then Kylo Ren reveals
that it’s made out of Lando’s favorite materials because it is, in fact, the very same cape that
Lando gave him, as a present before he left for Luke’s academy. And as he admits it,
it’s almost like Kylo Ren has fallen away and just for that moment, Ben Solo stands before them.
Lando inspects the blaster tear. “You won’t be able to get that patched up.
You’ll need a new one.”
When we first meet Lando he’s bowing to Vader and tip toeing around him out of fear;
now years later he stands before that same Skywalker darkness and keeps his head held high.
Kylo Ren could torture him, kill him, but he’ll never tear out the love Lando has for Ben Solo.
Almost subconsciously, Kylo Ren loosens the restraints on Chewbacca.
He rises out of the shackles, towering over Ren - and grabs him.
The embrace he’s wanted to give him again for years. Ben has almost forgotten what
it’s like to be held by a wookie. How safe it used to make him feel as a child.
Neither of them give Kylo the hard sell - or try to get him to change - or ask him to come with
them - they just show him the love he’s tried so hard to bury. As they leave, Lando gives him one
final glance - and then unhooks his own cape from his shoulders and leaves it on the side.
The pair of them leave the chamber, and the air is back in the room.
Kylo Ren pauses, touches Lando’s cape and even seems to consider it for a moment.
A radio transmission from a trooper pierces his ears, telling him that Rey is in his
chamber. He shakes it off, snaps back into the darkness and resumes the hunt for the Jedi.
At the end of the sequence, Lando and Chewbacca catch up to the main trio - Finn and Poe don’t
even question it but Rey can’t work out how the old rebel hero managed to free Chewie so easily.
They share a glance, and Rey realizes there is just enough light left in Ben
Solo to get him to take her hand, though they do not speak of it.
I also think it would just be fun to witness both Ren and Hux helping the heroes in secret and then
when they reunite they could both be equally paranoid of each other. How did the rebels get
off this ship? I’m not sure… how did the wookie escape? Cold silence from both of them. No trust.
And then later, once Ben Solo has gone to the light - rather than wearing a tattered jumper - he
steps out onto Exegol in some sweet new robes complete with the cape Lando bequeathed him.
An outfit befitting a Skywalker. Lando and Chewie fly past in the Falcon,
and Lando sees it - knowing that he’s finally changed.
Han Solo can always count on Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca, even in death.
You could still honour the romance between Rey and Ben,
and it could still be that that ultimately gets him to commit to the light. But instead
of Liea’s awkwardly placed death being the thing that gets the wheels turning,
couldn’t we have gotten a real scene between two flesh and blood actors? Couldn’t we have
paid off the relationship between Han’s son and the people that knew him best? His friends?
Look, I love Carrie - she was a credit to Hollywood not just for her on screen roles
but for her writing work off screen - and I would have loved to see Leia get her due in
episode 9. But unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be, and stitching a franken-performance together
out of unused footage from the previous movies is just creepy to me - and it doesn’t even work well.