At the end of Star Wars The Force Awakens there is a moment between Chewie and Leia that had fans scratching their heads. The scene happens near the end of the film, so don’t keep reading if (somehow) you haven’t seen the movie yet. We can make it official now, SPOILER ALERT.
Chewbacca is ignored and passed up by General Leia, so that Leia can embrace Rey. This happens after the big battle, when Han has left us thanks to Ben Solo, Chewie is hurt and is escorting Finn to the med bay, and then Leia passes right by Chewbacca without acknowledging him. This is weird because Leia is Hans girl, and Chewie is his best mate. Wouldn’t you think that they would share a moment at some point?
This is the big dilemma that fans are having. Some people are even saying the Chewie was slighted by Leia. First, he doesn’t get a medal at the end of A New Hope, and now this. Is everyone in a galaxy far, far, away racist against Wookies? It is doubtful, and J.J. Abrams has cleared things up for all of us.
In an interview with /Film, Abrams says that it was a mistake on his part. Nothing more than that.
“Had Chewbacca not been where he was, you probably wouldn’t have thought of it. But because he was right there, passed by Leia, it felt almost like a slight, which was definitely not the intention.”
Abrams claims that the scene was supposed to be a moment when two ‘force sensitive’ people come together. He goes on to say that Chewie was supposed to be preoccupied with getting Finn to the medical bay:
“That was probably one of the mistakes I made in that. My thinking at the time was that Chewbacca, despite the pain he was feeling, was focused on trying to save Finn and getting him taken care of. So I tried to have Chewbacca go off with him. And [meanwhile to] focus on Rey, and then have Rey find Leia and Leia find Rey. The idea being that both of them being strong with the Force and never having met, would know about each other — that Leia would have been told about her beyond what we saw onscreen and Rey of course would have learned about Leia. And that reunion would be a meeting and a reunion all in one, and a sort of commiseration of their mutual loss.”
Leia’s force sensitivity is something that is mentioned a few times, so why would fans get that this is the intention of the scene. Most fans tend to forget that Leia is even force sensitive. If what Abrams says is true, then this was a big thing overlooked all the way through post-production. This is just a little oversight to movie makers, but a huge oversight to fans. Poor Chewbacca.
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