Solo may not be the most popular Star Wars movie, but it does have one moment that stands out: Thandiwe Newton's bizarre and confusing sacrifice of Val.
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She plays a pragmatic criminal who is sharpshooter in Tobias Becketts team. She helps to stage a heist that robs the Railcrawler of the coaxium. Her job was to blow up a bridge so that the train would crash. However, Tobias and his crew would be able to hijack a cargo car and fly off with it. Enfys Nest and her Cloud Riders interfere with their plan. Val, however, sacrifices her life for the sake of Tobias, her lover.
Although Val does not get much screen time in Solo's films, what she does see contradicts her actions during her final scene. Newton explained to Inverse that the reason why the character died was not because it made sense, but because of logistics.
Star Wars killed my character and I was disappointed. In fact, the script says she was not killed. It occurred during filming. It was more than just time. As far as I was aware and concerned, the scene of Vals escape was too large a set-piece for us to create when we started filming. They just had to have me blow up and im done.
This was a sad end, especially considering Newton's important role in Star Wars cinema.
It was then that I thought, "This is a huge, big mistake not due to me, not because it was my desire to return." It's not fair to kill the first Black woman to play a role in Star Wars movies. Are you serious?
She is absolutely correct. It was a poor decision for Lucasfilm, Disney, and it was also a bad look to the Star Wars franchise. It's that easy.
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