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The Last Jedi's Admiral Holdo And Poe Dameron May Not See Eye To Eye

Published Mon, 20 Nov 2017 16:22:12 -0600

Last updated Fri, 08 Jul 2022 19:35:15 -0500

We've all had moments where we're in a job and suddenly a new boss shows up. They look different, they act different, and they are shaking up the ways you've been doing your job. It looks like the Resistance is going to get the equivalent of that when Laura Dern's Vice Admiral Holdo shows up to help lead them. Dern and Oscar Isaac both spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the conflict of ideologies that is going to rise between Holdo and Isaac's Poe Dameron.

"She enters the Resistance to shake things up," Dern tells EW.

The two of them are paired on the latest Entertainment Weekly cover. Isaac believes that is a good pairing, because their stories are very much connected.

"It's definitely appropriate that they've paired us because a lot of the friction and conflict comes between Poe and that relationship with Admiral Holdo, who is this person that's been — at least temporarily — put in charge of the Resistance," Isaac says.

No one in the Resistance knows what to think about her, and that is supposed to extend to the audience as well, according to Dern.

"You have to sort of figure out who's side you're on or what your feelings are about her," Dern says.

Holdo is here to work, and she doesn't care if anyone doesn't like her or disagrees with her. She's headstrong, but that kind of attitude is going to meet with, well, resistance.

"Sometimes you need somebody to show up and yeah, teach you a thing or two," Dern says.

Not everyone is open to being taught by someone who just walked onto the scene. While Holdo wants to strategize, Poe wants to fight, and it's going to lead to some conflicts.

"Poe is grappling with how to become a leader and not just a hero pilot, which means keeping those emotions in check, to keep his fervor in check and think things through a bit more," Isaac says.

Poe is going through his own character arc as he moves from hotshot pilot to leader, and Holdo's perspective of seeing the bigger picture — of hanging back when it's hard — is not one he has come to terms with yet.

"Even if something seems like it's not the most heroic thing to do in the moment, thinking about the bigger picture is sometimes more important," Isaac says. "That's something he's trying to wrap his mind around, but at the same time, with the Resistance being in such a precarious situation, he wants to do the right thing, and doesn't want to just wait and let things happen. He doesn't necessarily agree with the way Holdo sees the role of the Resistance in this particular moment."

Poe is loyal to Leia (Carrie Fisher) above all else, but what he doesn't seem to realize is that Holdo is just as much a student of Leia as he is. Holdo makes an appearance in Claudia Gray's new novel Leia, Princess of Alderaan, set during the teen years of the princess as she first enters the Rebellion.

"I've always worked under her for the Resistance, therefore with Leia being the boss," Dern says.

Holdo has her own way of commanding a room, and she looks to bring that leadership to the Resistance as they are on the brink of falling apart.

Summary: Having taken her first steps into a larger world in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), Rey continues her epic journey with Finn, Poe and Luke Skywalker in the next chapter of the saga, Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi, directed by Rian Johnson, stars Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Mark Hamill, Oscar Isaac, Carrie Fisher, and Adam Driver. It will be released on December 15th.

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