Battling would-be assassins, General Leia might finally demonstrate just how well she can wield the Force against the Dark side. A new rumor suggests Star Wars: Episode VIII will open with an assassination attempt on Leia, one which she thwarts through the power of the Force. And this might end up sending Finn on a secret mission for the Resistance to track down some traitorous culprits.
A combination of set reports and rumors outlines a possible Episode VIII storyline, which bizarrely seems to ape the plot of another, less-popular Star Wars movie: Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
In that one, Senator Amidala was nearly killed by a Separatist conspiracy, which resulted in Obi-Wan Kenobi searching the galaxy for clues as to why. If the rumor about Episode VIII is true, this would be a similar story. After Leia is almost killed, Finn will be sent on a mission to track down possible turncoats from within the Resistance.
The rumor asserts that Leia will be attending Han Solo’s funeral when all the early action goes down. If this ends up being true, the coolest detail will be that Leia will finally use the Force for more than just telepathy. In the “Legends” canon, Leia underwent a somewhat inconsistent pursuit of becoming a Jedi, but still had her own lightsaber, and was depicted in Dark Empire doing all sorts of great Force-action. From Force-pushing to lightsaber skills, this pretty much means she did everything short of shooting lightning from her fingers.
But, in the current established Star Wars canon, Leia has only really gotten in touch with the Force by her ability to sense what is going on with people she loves from great distances: Luke’s peril in The Empire Strikes Back and Han’s death in The Force Awakens. But now, if this leak turns out to be real, Leia might go full secret-Jedi.
Though an amazing battle scene complete with a ligthsaber would be ideal, it would also be great to see Leia use the Force with classic mind tricks: “You don’t want to shoot me with that blaster. This isn’t the target you’re looking for.”
Star Wars: Episode VIII open in theaters on December 15, 2017.
