‘Solo’ Droid L3-37 Provides Major Connection to ‘Empire Strikes Back’

Solo: A Star Wars Story may not have been the biggest box office performer, but it has introduced some new stars to the franchise. While fans were pleasantly surprised by how much they enjoyed the younger versions of Han and Lando, but it was new droid character L3-37 that managed to deliver something novel and new to the franchise – while also creating an interesting tie-in to Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

WARNING – Major Spoilers Follow!

Unfortunately, L3-37 was one of the big character deaths in Solo, as the feisty droid was fatally shot during the Kessel mines rebellion that she inspired. However, as Solo revealed, L3-37 may have died in one form, but she lives on as a piece of Star Wars iconography that no one knew about.

In order to complete the Kessel Run job, and escape a massive gravity well, Lando and Qi-Ra took damaged remains of L3-37 and downloaded her exceptional navigation software directly into the Millennium Falcon’s computers, giving the ship its one-of-a-kind ability to get Han and Chewie out of all sorts of jams during their smuggling days, and later on during their fight against the Empire.

The tie-in with Empire Strikes Back can be found in a scene where C3PO attempts to communicate with the Falcon’s computer and comes away perplexed, telling Han, “Sir, I don’t know where your ship learned to communicate, but it has the most peculiar dialect.” Indeed, a running joke/conflict in Empire is the Falcon’s broken hyperdrive, and how C3PO and R2-D2 attempt to fix it. What was comedic throwaway in that film now has much deeper meaning and resonance. Fans can now look back at Empire and see how L3-37 still gets a chance to shine in the ultimate war for freedom – something the old girl would’ve been happy to be a part of, in any way, shape, or form.

L3-37 was played by actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Solo: A Star Wars Story, and fans would no doubt like to see more of her in the franchise. That could happen in either a Solo sequel (with more interactions with her as the Falcon’s computer); a spinoff Lando film (with L3-37 still in her droid form); or even in something like Star Wars: Episode IX, if Rey and company discover the proverbial ghost in the machine of the Falcon, or need her unique navigational software in order to complete a mission or quest. Either way works with us. Just one more cool little connection tying this entire Star Wars universe together.

Solo: A Star Wars Story is now in theaters; Star Wars: Episode IX arrives on December 20, 2019. Obi-Wan: A Star Wars Story is also in development, along with a new Star Wars trilogy from Last Jedi director Rian Johnson, and a spinoff series from Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.