ST Jannah/Naomi Ackie in Episode IX

I've got nothing against Naomi but i believe her character was totally pointless, specially when you see how Rose Tico was treated in Episode IX.

 

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywoo...ise-of-skywalker-naomi-ackie-jannah-interview

 

I loved Jannah too. Ackie just has a vibe that I like a lot. If they do a show, though, please give her the second outfit from the concept art (with the really cool long wrap/ shawl/ robes/ whatever - I’m terrible at describing clothing) over the silly Wonder Woman meets Walmart Halloween costume JJ had her wear in TROS.

 

Aside from Finn and Jannah's acknowledgement of being former stormtroopers and kidnap victims in that one scene, I never got the impression that those two had formed a real "connection". The movie also ended with Jannah forming a friendly connection with Lando, who had offered her help to find her family. If the movie had wanted to strengthen Finn's connection with Jannah, he should volunteered to join that group.

That's the problem with this trilogy. It would set up a possible narrative arc and never follow through with it. Or a narrative arc would be established and followed through . . . with bad writing.

 

The fact that TFA and TROS suggests Stormtroopers defecting or turning away from the First Order are people barely realizing or aware of their force sensitivity is kinda hard to ignore, so, yeah, I'd say it was "The Will of the Force" trying to correct what got messed up if you wanna speculate.

Luke's exile would've made a smidge more sense (to me) if his failure to stop the First Order from kidnapping force sensitive children in tandem with Kylo Ren's fall was the reason for it. It would've tied Jannah and Finn to his subplot without any kind of contrivance. (I really don't like how the ST has handled the general lack, or demise, of Jedi/force sensitives under Luke's watch.)

 

Jannah's role in TROS is so unbelievable frustrating. Her character shows they at least thought about meaningful ways to conclude Finn's arc (finding family, linking up with other defecting stormtroopers, him inspiring others) and yet still couldn't even be bothered to carry any of these plot points out.

Her dialogue scene with Finn is IMO one of the better scenes in the film, which is telling because it doesn't even tie into the broader story at all. It does give us a hint at how good things could have been for Finn.

 

Is Naomi saying that she pushed for Finn/Jannah and it didn't pan out or is she saying it's actually implied in the movie?

 

It's strange to introduce another love interest for Finn in the last movie of the trilogy, especially since Jannah is introduced quite late into the story and Finn already had several established relationships (Poe, Rose and Rey) to develop further, I have the same issue with Zorii and Poe though it was a past relationship so I guess there's more room for them to develop Poe's pre-New Republic timeline. I did see a connection between Finn and Jannah in one of the rare moments the movie is allowed to breathe (though I don't know what to think the implication that FO stormtrooper who defect do so because they are Force sensitive rather than based on their own beliefs of rights and wrongs). As for Lando's daughter plot point:

I guess there will be plenty of story opportunity to explore it in the future. Though I don't see why he couldn't connect with Finn who basically has the same background as Jannah.

 

I personally don't see a problem with it. The fact that the Force is often outright treated like a biological (defense) mechanism (inherent in all species), or a person's life-force personified through telekinesis and telepathy, more or less tells me the beliefs, agency and morality of said force user is intact. They're not being puppeteered.

 

The more I think about it, the more I believe Jannah is the type of character Finn should've met and journeyed with in a TFA sequel. Their connection in TROS, however barely explored, was my favorite dynamic after Finn and Poe's (as far as ST is concerned). Boyega and Ackie have fantastic chemistry.

 

I liked this character's introduction and her special bond with Finn. It also reveals the significance of his defection moment and his interpretation of it adds meaning to the title of episode VII.

 

Jannah's a cool character. I'm glad she's in the movie and the scene where Lando said "let's find them" was really touching to me.

I'd like to add that her connection with Finn finally itches a trilogy-long scratch. I mean most of us have been wondering how Finn managed to spontaneously break his conditioning. We now have a sense of what it was. His sensitivity to the Force allowed him to be saved from a life of villainy. This apparently happened to many Stormtroopers who were faced with orders to commit war crimes.

 

One thing that baffles me about Jannah as a new character, is that there wasn't the slightest attempt to promote her character by LucasFilm within the Expanded Universe. No story for the "Journey to the The Rise of Skywalker" novel releases, not even a children's story book. They made a push to hype Rose and Paige in TLJ as part of their 'diversity initiative', but couldn't find the same energy to do the same for Jannah.

Twitter and Tumblr are currently circulating some Low Resolution TROS stills of Jannah and the rest of the cast. Hope there are better versions of them someplace.

Spoiler: More Behind the Cut

 

Great pics. Perhaps the marketing people assumed the existing audience would be more interested in Rose and Paige? Or maybe those promotions were not very successful? For a moment, I thought her secret ancestry (thought to be Lando) might have been a reason to play this down, but I doubt that is the only reason.

It was only on my third viewing that I actually caught the moment where she uses her bow in the command ship attack. Of course I thought of Rogue 1. The movie goes so fast that it really helped overall to see it three times. I wonder what I will notice on my fourth viewing.

 

I liked her character. Wish we got more

 

The classic rule of show business is "Always leave them wanting more."

I'm sure there will be some sort of continuation officially from Disney, but for now I get to imagine the adventures on my own. One thing I have to say I wonder about--fans in my age bracket did a great deal of making up our own stories, before the EU began to accumulate in the 1990s. Is it me, or do later age cohorts of Star Wars fans do this a lot less? It seems like more of them gravitate to citing or exploring source material now that it has become so much more voluminous.

 

I really doubt the first is the case at all. The second might be more likely, but even bigger reason to throw their weight behind Jannah if that were the reality. I think LucasFilm just got lazy (among other things).

 

So when is the Jannah+Lando spin-off show gonna happen?

 

@Ancient Whills, where are these from? Star Wars Insider? (The choice of wording to describe the Stormtroopers makes it sound like they weren't kidnapped, but reared from within... which is... yeah.)

I don't think she's saying she pushed for it so much as she favored the idea and thought it would've worked for Finn's character.

I dunno about a D+ series, but I can see someone turning that into a book series.

 

https://www.starwars.com/databank

 

I've been thinking this too. Seeing another trooper who'd carved out a life for herself and was offering to take Finn in would be a more apt reason for him to want to leave the Resistance than some random criminal that told him "good guys = bad guys."

There would be many other issues that still exist in TLJ, but at least Finn's arc would feel more personal and relevant to him. It could end with him turning down Jannah's offer and actively choosing the Resistance because he knows more good can be done in the galaxy from there, and people like him and Jannah won't have to hide anymore.

Jannah takes this to heart, and the seeds are planted for her to show up in the final film with an army of defectors inspired by Finn to bolster the Resistance. But nah, Space Casino.