Kelly Marie Tran On Watching Star Wars for the First Time

Before being cast as Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Kelly Marie Tran had never seen a Star Wars movie.

But that’s all changed and she’s now well versed in the Skywalker saga, having seen all of the movies including Rian Johnson’s new film. Tran spoke about the experience watching them for the first time after joining the franchise. Check it out in the video above.

“It was incredible. Really, because I was so lucky in that I hadn’t really had a lot of people talk to me about it that much,” Tran said. “I mean, obviously growing up people were like, ‘You have to watch it!’ I’d be like, yeah, I will one day.”

She finally got the best excuse to sit down and watch it when Johnson included her in the new film, and Tran realized how special the saga is.

“But just seeing these films and really thinking about the time in history that they came out, and how incredibly groundbreaking they were, and seeing them today and seeing just how much they hold up, and how they could have done those sort of effects, and how practical a lot of those elements of those films were. It’s hard.

“I mean, I don’t know how you could not respect or love the characters and what Star Wars is and was and will always be, hopefully. I think that this film is also groundbreaking and I hope that people think that when the see it.”

Tran will be playing one of the prominent newcomers in the franchise in Star Wars: The Last Jedi — Johnson has said her role is bigger than that of Laura Dern’s Vice Admiral Holdo and Benicio del Toro’s DJ. Her character Rose will accompany John Boyega’s Finn in a mission to infiltrate the First Order, though we’re not exactly sure why at this point.

Of course, all of that will become clear when Star Wars: The Last Jedi premieres on December 15.

By the way, Tran’s favorite film in the saga? The Empire Strikes Back.