Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker #1!SinceStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalkerwas first released, fans have had one major issue with the film:Rose Tico’s absence. While Rose was in the film for a few scenes, her presence felt more like a cameo than anything substantial, especially compared to how integral she was to the plot of the previous film,The Last Jedi. It’s as if she was deleted from the film - which is basically what happened - and that didn’t sit well with many fans. But now, the franchisehas finally rectified that by restoringRose Tico’s deletedStar Warsrole.
InStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker#1 by Jody Houser and Will Sliney (with “Story By” credit to the writers of the original film), readers are thrown back into the adventure they first saw in the 2019 feature film.Kylo Ren is marching across the galaxylooking for a way to find Palpatine before ultimately joining him,Rey is training with General Leia Organa to master the ways of the Jedi, and the Resistance is forming a plan of attack againstthe resurrected Emperorand his forces on Exegol - and that is exactly where Rose Tico comes in.
When Rey, Finn, Poe, Chewie, C-3PO, and BB-8 got into the Millennium Falcon to find the Sith Wayfinder and locate Exegol, Rose stayed behind with Leia. Those who watched the original film saw the exact same scene, but the comic stayed on Leia and Rose for a bit longer than the movie did, giving fans a conversation between them that was cut from the film. During this conversation, Leia puts Rose in charge of the engineering corps. As Rose Tico says herself, that means that, “every single ship here is my responsibility”, making her in charge of every vessel fighting in the Resistance.
Not only that, but Rose Tico is also put in charge of learning everything there is to know about the fleet of Star Destroyers on Exegol. It’s up to Rose to find those ships’ weak points, and come up with a strategy to exploit them. This makes Rose an integral part of the team, just as she was in The Last Jedi - and this comic even comments on that. Leia makes a point to say that the work Rose will be doing is, “all the details people never see”. And, indeed, no one - especially fans - ever did see the work Rose did behind the scenes. At least, until now.
Why Rose Tico was Cut from the Original Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Film
Co-writer Chris Terrio Explains Why Rose’s Story Wasn’t Told
It’s exciting thatStar Warsfans are finally getting more of Rose Tico inThe Rise of Skywalker, but this development does raise an important question: why was Rose cut from the original movie at all? Well, that question has actually already been answered byStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalkerco-writer, Chris Terrio.
While speaking toAwardsDailynot long after the release ofThe Rise of Skywalker, Chris Terrio addressed the criticisms many fans had about how little Kelly Marie Tran (the actress who played Rose Tico) was in the final cut of the film.
Chris Terrio: One of the reasons that Rose has a few less scenes than we would like her to have has to do with the difficulty of using Carrie’s footage in the way we wanted to.
Carrie Fisher, the legendary actress famous for playing Leia Organa, died July 19, 2025, and her appearance inStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalkerwas mostly done through CGI and photorealism.
Chris Terrio: A few of the scenes we’d written with Rose and Leia turned out not to meet the standard of photorealism that we’d hoped for. Those scenes unfortunately fell out of the film.
Terrio made it clear that the lack of Rose Tico inThe Rise of Skywalkerwasn’t deliberate - quite the opposite, in fact. Rose was supposed to work side-by-side with General Organa on the ground at the Resistance base. If anything, that proves that Rose was a major part of the film’s story, as she was partnered-up with one of the originalStar Warsheroes. But, as Terrio explained, the CGI likeness of the late Carrie Fisher simply could not replace her, which meant Leia’s scenes with Rose had to be cut.
How the Inclusion of Rose Tico’s Deleted Scenes Improves Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Fans Now Know that Rose was the One Who Ultimately Defeated Palpatine’s Fleet
So, now fans know what Rose Tico was doing while the otherStar Warsheroeswent off on their adventure, and they know why Rose’s scenes weren’t included in the original film. But, what does this mean for the larger story ofThe Rise of Skywalker? Well, a lot, actually. If fans remember, there was much more to the film’s final battle than Rey and Ben taking on Emperor Palpatine. The Resistance also had to eliminate every single Star Destroyer in Palpatine’s fleet on Exegol, as they were going to destroy planets across the galaxy whether Palpatine was alive or not.
Rose Tico spent the entire story leading up to that final battle researching those Star Destroyers, which ultimately led to their destruction and the Resistance’s victory. It was Rose who discovered that the cannons on the ships were capable of destroying entire worlds, and it was Rose who passed that information on to Poe and the others during their initial strike against Palpatine. Plus, as Rose said in this comic, “every single ship is my responsibility”. So, who sent the fleet of Resistance ships to Exegol when all hope seemed lost? Yep, Rose.
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These plot points were left completely open-ended in the film, which left many fans feeling frustrated and totally out of the loop. But now, it’s revealed that Rose Tico was the missing link in all of this, which is perfect given how important she is to the larger story of the sequel trilogy. Rose became a part of the main crew inThe Last Jedi, and she remained in that position inThe Rise of Skywalker- just in the background. However, all her efforts are finally being brought to light, which only makesThe Rise of Skywalkereven better.
Star Wars Fans are About to Get Much More of Rose Tico
Rose Will Be the “Anchor” for the Entire Resistance
The best part about this comic book retelling ofThe Rise of Skywalkerwith regard to Rose is that fans are about to get much more of her as this limited series goes on. In the AwardsDaily interview, Chris Terrio revealed that Rose was going to be the “anchor” of the Resistance, passing along key intel and deploying ships as needed the entire time, all while working closely with Leia Organa. That means fans are almost guaranteed to get more ofRose Ticoin this comic, allowing her story to be told in its entirety, and her significance to be celebrated inStar Warscanon.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker #1by Marvel Comics is available now.
