Editorial: Could Emilia Clarke Return as Qi’ra in ‘Star Wars: Outlaws’?
Arguably one of the standout players in 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story was Emilia Clarke as Qi’ra, Han’s childhood love who went on to become a ruthless mob leader after being groomed by Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany). By the end of the film, which takes place 10 years before A New Hope, we see her emerge as the new leader of the crime syndicate Crimson Dawn and working for Darth Maul.
Despite fan efforts to convince Lucasfilm to explore some sort of continuation to the story of the film, the character of Qi’ra lived in our memories for the better part of three years. It wasn’t until mid-2021 that the character was brought back as an end-of-issue reveal in War of the Bounty Hunters #1, a momentous occasion for her because the story was set in between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. It meant that, 13 years after we last saw her, Qi’ra was still alive and leading the crime syndicate (now referred to as Lady Qi’ra.)
That immediately fueled a lot of speculation about Lucasfilm’s plans to bring the character back, and that carried over for a few months into the release of The Book of Boba Fett, the December 2021 show that was highly speculated to be featuring a surprise reveal of Emilia Clarke as Qi’ra being the puppet master. None of that ever happened, nor were there ever any plans for it, and hopes of seeing the Solo players back died off again (we’re still waiting for a solid update on Lando.) But last month, a new opportunity emerged, and Emilia Clarke herself, probably involuntarily, has sparked a lot of speculation about it.
In a new viral video, Ben Mendelsohn asked Emilia Clarke during a press junket for Marvel’s Secret Invasion about possibly returning to her Star Wars role, and, speculation aside from what her facial expression could signify, it’s obvious the actress was caught off guard. In the end, this is just the two co-stars fooling around, and one way or another, it’s clear Mendelsohn knows nothing. Personally, after watching the video, I don’t think Clarke was about to spill the bins when she said “You know what?,” and her saying “I’m in Marvel now, I’m not allowed” doesn’t do much for me either. But the 36-year-old actress knows a thing or two about keeping secrets by now, so I personally think that trying to interpret anything from her facial expressions when asked questions that would break NDAs is a bit of a waste of time.
However, as some people suggested in the comments of the video, and even SWNN’s former editor Fran J. Ruiz brought up in a private conversation, it would make complete sense to have the character appear in Ubisoft Massive Entertainment’s upcoming Star Wars: Outlaws, the video game that was just announced last month to be coming in 2024, and set between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Qi’ra fits in naturally into the narrative, given the game is focused on the underworld of the galaxy and will feature its protagonist, Kay, working for various crime syndicates. We’ve already seen the Pykes in the trailer, so I’ll even go one step further — would it make sense NOT to have the Hutts and Crimson Dawn also featured in the story? The game’s director, Mathias Karlson, has already confirmed that it was Lucasfilm’s idea to set their idea of an open-world scoundrel story in between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and they apparently even suggested about certain characters.
Not to bring hopes up for nothing for the #MakeSolo2Happen campaign, but if Lucasfilm were thinking about maybe, someday, at some point, exploring some of the ideas that Jon Kasdan and the rest of the Solo team had for the sequels, inserting some of them into a video game where it actually makes sense in the story would be a great way to test the waters and watch the reception. We’ve already seen Han in the trailer (in carbonite), and while Lando could maybe fit in, Qi’ra just makes sense. More than that, actually, because if Star Wars: Outlaws is indeed going to be a deep exploration of the Star Wars underworld and the various crime syndicates, it would be extremely distracting that one of the biggest, Crimson Dawn, wasn’t there.
For what it’s worth, my thoughts on Solo follow-up stories are very simple. I would much rather Lucasfilm move on from the 60-year period of the Skywalker Saga and stop recycling through characters, storylines, and places over and over again. (James Mangold said it best recently, when he compared it to a game of Twister.) But if we are going to keep doing it, and I suspect that we will, I would much rather see The Adventures of Han and Chewie on Disney Plus, or a Crimson Dawn series, or even the Lando show with Donald Glover, than The Mandalorian season 6 or The Book of Boba Fett season 3.
What do you make of this? Do you agree that Star Wars: Outlaws makes perfect sense for Lucasfilm to bring back Qi’ra, or do you think that perhaps the ship has sailed by now? Drop a comment below and let’s start a conversation!
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as movies from Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
