As the countdown continues towardsStar Wars: The Last Jedi, a new Verizon ad has been revealed which features new footage of Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) andBB-8. Fans were introduced to both Poe and BB-8 together early on inStar Wars: The Force Awakens, although the loveable ball droid ended up with Rey (Daisy Ridley) throughout most of the movie. Now he will be reunited with the Resistance X-Wing pilot inThe Last Jedi, as we see in this new footage. While we don’t get a ton of extra moments, it does showcase how handy BB-8 can be, while Oscar Isaac himself offers more on his character in a new interview.
The ad features a brief scene withPoe Dameronin the middle of an aerial dogfight in his X-Wing ship, when he asks BB-8 to “work his magic.” BB-8 then descends from his usual post on the X-Wing ship to go down below, using one of his robotic extensions to access an electrical panel. This “magic” results in a sizeable speed boost for his X-Wing ship, as they speed away from their pursuers. In a new interview with Esquire, Oscar Isaac was asked if his character was crafted as a “replacement,” of sorts, for another rogue-ish pilot, the iconic Han Solo, who was killed by his son Kylo Ren inThe Force Awakens. Here’s what he had to say about his character being crafted as Han Solo’s replacement.
“Well, there could be, but I think what (The Last Jedidirector) Rian (Johnson) did was make it less about filling a slot and more about what the story needs. The fact is now that theResistancehas been whittled to just a handful of people, they’re running for their lives, and Leia is grooming me, him, to be a leader of the Resistance, as opposed to a dashing, rogue hero.”
The actor’s Poe Dameron is part of a new trio of heroes that most fans expect will drive the newStar Warsstories for years to come, along with Rey (Daisy Ridley) andFinn(John Boyega). However, that wasn’t always the case, withThe Force Awakensdirector J.J. Abrams originally planning on killing off this character, but Oscar Isaac didn’t want to play a character like that again, since he’s already done that in the past, including one movie for LucasFilm president Kathleen Kennedy, 2012’sThe Bourne Legacy, where his character is killed to set up the main character Aaron Cross, played by Jeremy Renner. Here’s what he had to say about talking the director and producer Kathleen Kennedy into letting him stick around.
“I said that I wasn’t sure because I had already done that role in other movies where you kind of set it up for the main people and then you die spectacularly. What’s funny is that (producer) Kathleen Kennedy was in the room and she was like, ‘Yeah, you did that for us in Bourne!'”
There are legions of Poe Dameron fans who are glad thatdirector J.J. Abramsdidn’t kill off this beloved pilot, but there is still much we don’t know about what happens to this character. There are rumors that both Poe and Finn get captured by Kylo Ren in an effort to lure Rey out of hiding, but that hasn’t been confirmed. Take a look at the new TV spot below, and visitEsquirefor their full interview with Oscar Isaac.
