See Scarlett Johansson As Star Wars’ Newest Jedi
We exclusively reported that Scarlett Johansson might soon be joining the Star Wars franchise; here's what she would look like as a Jedi.
A new picture on the Giant Freakin Robot Instagram imagines what Scarlett Johansson could look like as a part of the Star Wars universe. We broke the news last year that Disney was actively pursuing Johansson for a role in the franchise. This Instagram post shows one possible role the Black Widow star might take if she signs on to visit a galaxy far, far, away.
The Instagram post depicts the Lost in Translation star with red hair and wielding a red-toned lightsaber, leading to the obvious suggestion, Mara Jade. Scarlett Johansson would be perfect as the firey but loyal Jade. That is if it’s possible to introduce the character into the current canon.
Despite being a fan-favorite character, Mara Jade is seemingly stuck in the Legends continuity just out of reach for Scarlett Johansson. Legends is the name that Disney gave to all of the Star Wars stories written before their purchase of the IP. Some characters and situations from Legends have been brought back by Disney, and others — like how the rebels procured the plans for the original Death Star — the studio has simply written over with their own stories.
Grand Admiral Thrawn is one popular character to make it out of Legends and into Disney Star Wars. Thrawn is significant because the character was created by the same author that created Mara Jade, Timothy Zahn. Zahn even introduced the two characters in the same book, 1991’s Heir to the Empire.
Thrawn is rumored to make his live-action debut in the upcoming Disney+ series Ahsoka later this year. Does that mean a Scarlett Johansson Mara Jade might be right behind him? Possibly, but it would take some clever finagling. The character of Jade is heavily connected to Luke Skywalker, starting out as an adversary and eventually marrying the former farm boy.
There is nothing from the sequel trilogy to indicate that Luke was ever married, but there’s also nothing that specifically says he couldn’t have been. We have no idea what he did for the 15-20 years he was in his self-imposed exile on Ahch-To or even the years before he tried to kill his nephew. Still, the easiest way to bring the perfect character for Scarlett Johansson back into the current Star Wars continuity would be to separate her from Luke altogether.
Mara Jade’s backstory is that she was an assassin for the Emperor with one final command to kill Luke Skywalker left unresolved when her master died. If Dave Filoni was so inclined, he could easily swap Luke Skywalker for Ahsoka Tano and keep Mara’s general story intact. Not only would this allow Scarlett Johansson to play the Star Wars character she was born to play, but it would also add some much-needed LGBTQIA+ representation to the franchise.
Even if Jade is never introduced into the current Star Wars canon, there are plenty of other roles Scarlett Johansson could play. Perhaps even someone completely new created just for the Jojo Rabbit star. Either way, Scarlett would make a welcome addition to the Star Wars family.
