Whichever side of the fence you fall on about The Last Jedi, we can all hopefully agree that the abusive behavior from a certain subset of Star Wars fans towards Kelly Marie Tran – who played Rose Tico in the eighth installment in the saga – was despicable. As you’ve surely heard, the actress left social media after the bullying became too much to bear.
Since then, Mark Hamill came forward in support of his TLJ co-star and now, Hamill’s on-screen pa has given the actress some words of encouragement, too. Hayden Christensen infamously received a lot of bad press for his portrayal of Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels and had something to say about Kelly Marie Tran’s similar situation, telling ET the following:
“I don’t know if I have any advice for that, but just, you know, don’t take it too seriously, because unfortunately [bullies] are the ones that make the most noise. But the majority of the people don’t feel that way, so, keep that in mind.”
Christensen’s right about that. Star Wars fans have gotten a bad rap of late due to the terrible behavior of an ugly group that the majority of the fandom would not consider true lovers of the franchise. Among those that enjoy The Last Jedi, especially, Tran has a huge amount of support and love.
In any case, it sounds like the actress has come to terms with the online harassment she suffered. Earlier this week, she broke her silence on the situation and admitted that it forced her to think about the marginalization she’d encountered throughout her life as a Vietnamese-American woman.
“You might know me as Kelly. I am the first woman of color to have a leading role in a Star Wars movie. I am the first Asian woman to appear on the cover of Vanity Fair. My real name is Loan. And I am just getting started.”
Kelly Marie Tran is set to reprise the role of Rose Tico in J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode IX – a film that Hayden Christensen himself is even vaguely rumored to be appearing in as well. Stay tuned for more on that front.
