Vice Admiral Holdo was Force-Sensitive According to Laura Dern
Laura Dern’s character in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Vice Admiral Holdo, is the cause for many complaints from the fanbase. Even the two Honest Trailer voices agree that she caused a huge problem with the movie. Don’t get me wrong, Dern was fantastic in the role. The problem seems to be more about the character and most of those accusations are fair criticisms. That being said, in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Dern gave us a bit more of Holdo’s backstory:
“In their minds, and in their understanding of the origin story, we know that she was a true rebel in the Resistance, and in our culture we might have called her a hippie. But she was longing for peace, and a revolutionary in that way, and wanted to be trained by and led by Leia, who taught her everything she knew. She wanted to come up in the ranks to support Leia’s mission, but also had this otherworldly side that does involve the Force.
There’s something about her that longs to protect it, and holds that with great care. There’s a sort of a light on and a wisdom that she speaks about in the film, and speaks to Oscar Isaac’s character briefly about it.
Yeah, her primary goal was to protect the light, to protect the Force, and to keep the revolutionaries alive.”
No, she wasn’t a Jedi or a Sith, but Star Wars movies have been introducing more Force-sensitives who aren’t. In The Force Awakens, we met Maz Kinata who has a strong connection to the Force and then in Rogue One we were introduced to Chirrut Imwe. This is a bit crazy as well considering that there is no evidence in the film itself to support this. However, Dern says that this was agreed upon by her, Rian Johnson, and Kathleen Kennedy. Also, towards the end of the interview, Dern does stray into more of a fan theory when she talks about how she believes that Holdo and Leia had a deep connection and friendship “forged through the Force.”
I think this backstory is a cool piece of insight into the character, although it doesn’t change the fact that she should’ve told everyone (or at least the hot-headed Poe) her plan to prevent a mutiny. Star Wars: The Last Jedi is now available on Digital, Blu-ray, and DVD.