When Might We See Qi'ra On Screen Again?
In the aftermath of the finale of The Book of Boba Fett, many Star Wars fans are wondering if we'll ever see the character of Qi'ra from Solo: A Star Wars Story on screen again. For those who don't know, Qi'ra was brought back into the canon story of Star Wars last year with Charles Soule's comic miniseries, The War of the Bounty Hunters. In said miniseries, we saw Boba Fett lose the carbonite frozen Han Solo to Crimson Dawn between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Under their new leader, Lady Qi'ra, Crimson Dawn auctioned off the smuggler to the galaxy's biggest crime syndicates. This ultimately ended with Darth Vader arriving to crash the auction, as Fett reclaimed his bounty and brought him to Jabba the Hutt on Tatooine.
With this storyline came a wave of hype in the Star Wars fandom, as many fans began to speculate about whether or not Qi'ra would return to get her revenge on Fett in his upcoming series, The Book of Boba Fett. Though at this point, with all seven episodes released, we know that neither Qi'ra nor Crimson Dawn seemed to have any kind of role in the story. While I was very much open to the idea of Qi'ra making her onscreen return in Fett's series, I also knew to temper my expectations in case it didn't end up happening. Last year, following the release of The War of the Bounty Hunters' first issue, Qi'ra's actress Emilia Clarke expressed her excitement during an interview at the idea of playing Qi'ra again. So I imagine that Disney and Lucasfilm are aware of the character's potential for a return.
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While I understand fans being disappointed at Qi'ra not appearing in The Book of Boba Fett, I'm optimistic that we have not seen the last of her onscreen. After all, Lucasfilm has been pushing Crimson Dawn as one of the most powerful criminal factions in the galaxy, with them being major players in the comics and also getting a namedrop in the final season of The Clone Wars. There have also been rumors circulating about the syndicate possibly playing a role in the second season of The Bad Batch. The point is, Lucasfilm knows that fans are starved for more Qi'ra and Crimson Dawn content. The question now is what's the most likely place for them to return onscreen?
Personally, I think the The Bad Batch is a strong contender, considering how deeply entrenched the series has been in the criminal underworld. Though in terms of Qi'ra herself showing up, I'd say that's only likely to happen if we see a time jump of at least nine years between the first and second seasons, given the fact that Qi'ra doesn't truly join Maul and Crimson Dawn until ten years before A New Hope and nine years after The Bad Batch's first season. If not The Bad Batch, then perhaps those rumors of an animated Maul series may hold some weight. This would be a perfect opportunity to further explore Maul, Crimson Dawn and Qi'ra as she works closely with the former Sith in running the crime syndicate.
But in terms of Qi'ra's next live action appearance, I think there are a few likely possibilities. The first of these is Lando, given the titular character's proximity to Qi'ra and the series likely taking place before the point where Crimson Dawn goes into hiding, before reemerging in The War of the Bounty Hunters. There is also the upcoming third season of The Mandalorian, which could be the show to finally bring Crimson Dawn and Qi'ra into the post-OT. There are many ways that Lucasfilm could go about bringing Qi'ra and Crimson Dawn back onscreen. It's just a matter of when and how they will choose to do it.
Qi'ra has become one of the most unique characters in Star Wars' expanded universe, with Charles Soule writing her as a master manipulator with big plans to reshape the galaxy itself. I've talked at length before about current live action Star Wars needing a breath of fresh air in the form of new, exciting characters that we don't know well or have established backstories. In that regard, Qi'ra is a perfect candidate. As the comics continue to breathe new life into her character, her playing a role in the larger Star Wars galaxy feels more likely than not. So until Qi'ra finally makes her return onscreen, I have a feeling her fans will be watching these upcoming shows much more closely from now on.
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