It’s been over a month since the release of The Last Jedi, but that doesn’t stop us from jumping onto any crumb of information that drops: such as the idea of Poe going to Canto Bight with Finn instead of Rose. Episode VIII writer and director Rian Johnson shared that note from an early draft of the film in The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Ultimately, he realized the duo didn’t have any conflict so “it was just these two dudes on an adventure.”
While I’d be more than okay with watching a Poe and Finn buddy escapade, it was important to see Rose and Finn go to the casino city and track down the Master Codebreaker. During a Q&A at a recent Collider IMAX screening of the latest Star Wars movie, Johnson discussed the Finn and Poe team-up more, which you can watch in the below video.
Johnson said Poe was the hardest character to write for in terms of figuring out what his story was going to be. As he pointed out, Poe, on the surface at least, is awesome. The beginning of The Last Jedi started to reveal more depth for the character–and that he had a lot to learn. Johnson said at the Q&A, “In the very first draft I wrote of it, Poe went with Finn on the mission to Canto Bight, and the two of them were going to be together on the mission. And it didn’t work at all because those two get along so well and so it was just really boring.”
Splitting Poe apart from Finn helped the ace pilot’s story come into clarity. But still, if Poe and Finn in Canto Bight isn’t fanfic waiting to happen, I don’t know what is.
Do you hope to see a Poe and Finn team-up in Episode IX? Do you ship them? Sound off in the comments.
Images: Lucasfilm/Disney
Amy Ratcliffe is an Associate Editor for Nerdist. She likes Star Wars a little. Follow her on Twitter.
More about The Last Jedi!
- Listen to John Williams conduct for The Last Jedi.
- Rey and Kylo Ren fighting to popular songs.
- The Last Jedi novelization to include Han’s funeral.
