Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker did Nien Nunb dirty. The Sullustan pilot and smuggler might not be as popular or iconic as Darth Vader or Yoda, but dammit, he co-piloted the Millennium Falcon when it blew up the Death Star II. Without him, the Empire may not have fallen and the future course of the galaxy would have been very different.
So, when it was revealed in an almost throwaway mention that he’d died in the final battle at Exegol in The Rise of Skywalker, fans weren’t pleased. His death apparently comes during Emperor Palpatine’s lightning storm, where we see his ship the Tantive IV suffering a series of explosions. Practically everyone missed the significance of this at the time, and the actor that plays him even assumed he’d survived.
In fact, it took Rae Carson, the author of the official novelization, to confirm that Nunb bit the dust, with the writer saying:
“I think it’s pretty clear from the movie (upon careful watching), so I feel comfortable confirming.”
Well, I’ve seen the film and I didn’t notice Nien Nunb dying, either. But now a fan thinks they’ve pinpointed the exact moment in the movie that it happens and you can see a video of it here.
After watching it a couple of times, that’s clearly Nien Nunb and it’s sad to see the character go out with such little fanfare. His unceremonious and unremarked upon death has become a lightning rod for criticism of the movie, with fans asking what’s the point of randomly killing off minor characters if nobody even notices they’re dead? I mean, Admiral Ackbar’s death wasn’t dwelled on, but at least they mentioned it.
I’m not going to make a case that Nien Nunb was a very important character or even one with a particularly huge fanbase. But it just feels disrespectful to the fans and the actor that plays him to dispatch him in a way that you can only see if you go frame-by-frame through Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
