Star Wars: Who Does Emilia Clarke Play In Solo & What Does She Become Later?
As the title suggests, "Solo: A Star Wars Story" puts the spotlight on fan-favorite Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich), exploring his youth and answering key questions about his life. In doing so, it introduces "Star Wars" fans to Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke): Han's old romantic flame who grows up with him on Corellia before they're separated during their attempt to escape the planet. She's sold into slavery and eventually ends up in the criminal underworld as a part of the Crimson Dawn syndicate. In time, she becomes a trusted ally of one of its figureheads, Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany).
When Han resurfaces in her life, she turns her back on Vos, but only to save the former. Rather than running off with Han, she instead reports to the real boss of Crimson Dawn, Maul (Ray Park, Sam Witwer), and meets him on Dathomir. He later ends up stranded on the planet Malachor, and with his disappearance, Crimson Dawn seems to crumble. However, Qi'ra assumes control of the syndicate and sets off a massive war between the galaxy's many crime syndicates. Overall, this was merely a step in her plan to kill Darth Sidious and Darth Vader, thus destroying the Empire.
Unfortunately, she fails in her mission, Crimson Dawn collapses, and she has no choice but to go into hiding following the Battle of Endor. From start to finish, Qi'ra's story is full of twists and turns, and even includes the reunion "Star Wars" fans would've undoubtedly liked to see in a hypothetical "Solo: A Star Wars Story 2."
Qi'ra and Han Solo do reunite, but not under the best of circumstances
Beyond "Solo: A Star Wars Story," Qi'ra's story is told through comics. One of the more notable tales to come out of her time in print stems from the "War of the Bounty Hunters" comic series by Charles Soule. Set between "Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back" and "Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi," she puts her power as the leader of Crimson Dawn on full display in a big way. She sends her agents to attack the bounty hunter Boba Fett to acquire the prize of all prizes: Han Solo frozen in carbonite.
Yes, Qi'ra and Han do indeed reunite, only the latter has no idea it happens. She organizes an auction for her ex, which leads various criminal parties to attend in hopes of scoring the notorious Corellian smuggler. Unfortunately for her, things go awry when Darth Vader arrives, leading Qi'ra to duel him while Rebel agents and Fett duke it out over Han. In the end, Fett escapes with the carbonite block, Qi'ra narrowly survives her clash with Vader, and the Rebellion is left without one of its most crucial members. To top it all off, the whole ordeal leads to a meeting between her and Han's new love interest, Princess Leia Organa.
To say that Qi'ra and Han's reunion doesn't go as fans might've hoped it would is an understatement. Then again, that's par for the course in the "Star Wars" galaxy, where romance more often goes wrong than right.