I was a bigger fan than Solo: A Star Wars Story than most, finding it to be a fun, brisk space adventure and Star Wars’ first genuine popcorn movie. I found it to be mostly inoffensive, too, but apparently that was a mistake on my part because some folks were up in arms about one scene in particular, and you probably know the one.
It has to do with activist droid L3-37, voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who (SPOILERS!!) was destroyed later in the movie and her consciousness uploaded into the Millennium Falcon forever. A sad fate indeed for the rabble-rousing droid, right? Some saw it as a form of subjugation which L3-37 would have despised, but for me it was a way for her to continue the good fight beyond death, and continue to help Lando Calrissian who she clearly loved.
So which is it? Well, a new Solo novelization actually goes into what happened to L3-37 after she became part of the Falcon, and it attempts to make everyone feel better about her situation. Although, to be perfectly honest, it reads like more of a nightmare. Here’s an excerpt from StarWars.com…
That’s why I’m the copilot. You need me.
The thought finished and she looked around impatiently, ready to tell Lando what she thought of the current situation. But she had no head.
She had cams now, with the ability to look into every room. Audio sensors let her hear everything from the Wookiee’s stressed breathing to the drops of sweat dripping from Lando’s pain-racked face. Outside the ship swarmed one last TIE fighter.
And here, inside, the voices of the Falcon greeted her. They queried gently in Binary, wondering why L3 was now here when she usually plugged in from out there.
I don’t know.
The Falcon didn’t speak in words, but in images they told L3 what had happened during the fight, and that they all needed her right now. Lando needed her.
He always needs me. Just get me a new body and I’ll get right back in that copilot’s seat.
The Falcon was so gentle it was irritating. It wasn’t that easy, they explained. L3 had a choice to make. She could die with her final act being a liberator to all the droids on Kessel, or she could join with the Falcon, live on, and be part of something much bigger. She could save them all.
Ridiculous. And be a slave inside a ship forever? No thank you.
The lights in the cockpit flickered, the reboot stalling. Lando put his hand on the computer, watching.
Being a ship wasn’t so bad, the Falcon insisted.
You go exactly where your pilot tells you, L3 countered.
You did that as a copilot, the Falcon reminded her.
That was different. I could leave anytime.
But you never did. You chose that life.
The Falcon was starting to speak in words now, a bit of a sharpness to their Binary.
If you refuse, you die. He dies. The others on the ship, they all die. If you join with us, we all can live. The choice is simple. L3 realized where the voice was coming from: The reboot was almost done.
You tricked me.
We couldn’t have joined without you consenting to it. You made your decision a while ago. You just couldn’t admit it.
We are something different, now. Not just the Falcon. Not just L3.
We are new.
I’m not sure this makes the situation any better. That said, I’m not convinced L3 stays inside the Falcon forever. Maybe some later novelization will have her brain removed from the ship and placed inside of a regular droid body again, we just don’t know. For now, this remains one of the strangest debates about female autonomy and I’m sure in some circles it will continue for as long as the Falcon soars the skies.
