After Han Solo joins Tobias Beckett’s crew of criminals in Solo, he quickly learns about Beckett’s competition, a black-clad crew of marauders that ride around on swoop bikes and hijack Beckett’s heists. But once you find out Enfys Nest’s true identity and what they goes on to do after the movie, you realize that their story has a huge impact on greater Star Wars canon.
Huge spoilers follow for Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Solo hit theaters on Friday and in addition to offering an origin story for Han Solo and how he met Chewbacca, Lando, and his beloved Millennium Falcon, we also learn that this inherently “good” guy trying to be criminal actually played a huge part in getting the Rebellion off the ground. By the end of Solo, we learn that Enfys Nest is actually a young woman played by 19-year-old actress Erin Kellyman, and she’s the leader of a group you might as well call the proto-Rebellion. After Han gives them a huge cache of expensive coaxium, they have funding in the millions of credits to get the Rebellion started in earnest.
The identity of Enfys Nest in 'Solo' is totally different from old Star Wars comics.
This big reveal about Enfys Nest and the Rebellion is a huge departure from the character’s origin in Star Wars comics, in which the character was more or less the genuine marauder Solo initially purports them to be. The gang of Cloud-Riders seems like a bunch of thugs looking to steal expensive goods for the cash payout, but Solo reveals that they’re actually a bunch of do-gooders actively sabotaging gangsters like Dryden Vos. Their ultimate intentions are open Rebellion against the Empire.
Previously, the founding members of the Rebel Alliance were Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, and Padmé Amidala. It’s still unclear exactly where Enfys Nest might fit into the mix, but it’s entirely possible that we might eventually learn that Nest had a more prominent position in the emerging Alliance. At the very least, her separate Rebel cell was probably integrated into the mix shortly after the events of Solo, which take place about a decade before Rogue One and A New Hope and nine years after Revenge of the Sith.
Hopefully, if we do get some kind of Solo sequel down the road, then we’ll learn a lot more about Enfys Nest and what she goes on to accomplish. But for now, we’ll have to settle for the upcoming Star Wars: Episode IX instead.
Solo: A Star Wars Story is currently in theaters.
