The publication, which devoted many a cover to the film ahead of its theatrical release, recently spoke with Laura Dern about her commanding yet soulful character, Vice Admiral Holdo. The Big Little Lies star revealed what you might have suspected: that Holdo was Force-sensitive just like her mentor, General Leia Organa. Dern said she developed the character’s backstory with writer-director Rian Johnson, Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy, and producer Ram Bergman: “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.”
Dern explained that Holdo, who sacrifices herself (and The Raddus) in one of the film’s most powerful scenes, “was longing for peace, and a revolutionary in that way.” Because she was trained by Leia, Holdo was eager to rise in the ranks to help carry out her mission, which is probably when she put her “otherworldly side that does involve the Force” to good use. That doesn’t mean she was able to move objects or through space; the way Dern sees it, Holdo’s Force sensitivity is evident in her convictions. “Yeah, her primary goal was to protect the light, to protect the Force, and to keep the revolutionaries alive,” Dern told EW. “And I think the film speaks so beautifully to that with this last image of the next generation of the Resistance, you know?”
