Interesting Details on The Bond Between General Leia and Poe Dameron in STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI
Some more information has surfaced for Star Wars: The Last Jedi thanks to EW. This new bit of information revolves around Carrie Fisher's General Leia and Oscar Isaac's Poe Dameron and their relationship in the story.
When talking about how Fisher's character has been defined over the years, he said:
“Her character to some degree or another has been defined by loss through this whole saga, starting with the loss of her home planet. She’s just taken hit after hit, and she’s borne it, and she focuses on moving forward and the task at hand.”
When The Last Jedi picks up with Leia, she is still in charge of the Resistance movement, which has been cut off from the Republic, and whose leadership was destroyed in The Force Awakens. Johnson explains that the resistance is now isolated and vulnerable:
“They’re a small band that’s now cut off, on its own, and hunted when the Republic is shattered. When the First Order did that hit, the Resistance is isolated, and they’re very, very vulnerable. That’s where we pick them up.”
As Leia is forced to deal with all this, she is also mourning the loss of Han Solo. But, she doesn't have to go through it alone. Oscar Isaac's Poe Dameron will be at her side. According to Isaac, their relationship goes beyond being a General and a Soldier, they have a family-like bond. He says:
“Poe is in some ways a surrogate son for Leia. But also I think she sees in him the potential for a truly great leader of the Resistance and beyond.”
He goes into more detail saying:
“Poe’s arc is one of evolving from a heroic soldier to a seasoned leader, to see beyond the single-mindedness of winning the battle to the larger picture of the future of the galaxy. I think Leia knows she won’t be around forever and she, with tough love, wants to push Poe to be more than the badass pilot, to temper his heroic impulses with wisdom and clarity.”
She's obviously grooming Poe to take up leadership of the resistance when she is gone. I imagine that means that will be Poe's role as the saga moves into Episode IX. It doesn't sound like things are going to be easy either because the pressure on the resistance is building. Johnson explains:
“I don’t want to tip the hat too much, but I will say that the heat is immediately turned up on the Resistance. Everybody is put in a pressure cooker right away, and relationships crack and strain under that pressure. That was really interesting to me, the notion of putting this small army under a lot of external pressure and showing some of the results within the Resistance itself.”
It's also reiterated that the storyline for the film was not changed after Fisher tragically passed away. But, Johnson says that there's going to be a "very emotional reaction" to her character's journey in the story.
“There’s no way that we could’ve known this would’ve been the last Star Warsmovie she would be in, so it’s not like we made the film thinking that we were bringing closure to the character. But watching the film, there’s going to be a very emotional reaction to what she does in this movie.”
Isaac goes on to share one of his favorite things to do with Fisher while working on the film, saying:
“One of my favorite things that would happen from time to time on set would be when Carrie would sing old songs. Whenever that would happen I would offer her my hand and we would waltz around the set – on a starship, in a Rebel base, on an alien planet, and she would sing and we would dance. So surreal and beautiful to think about now. For all of her delicious, wicked humor and fiery energy she also had such sweet grace. I miss her dearly.”
I love that. I'm sure that relationship that they shared in real life will shine on the big screen in The Last Jedi.