It sounds like Emilia Clarke would really like to return to the character of Qi’ra

Qi’ra is back in focus in Star Wars storytelling right now, making a stunning return in the current War of the Bounty Hunters comic story event.

The reveal caught the attention of actress Emilia Clarke, who portrayed Qi’ra in live-action in Solo: A Star Wars Story, saying that Qi’ra’s return in the comic “means so much” and adding that “I was not expecting to feel as moved as I was by that.”

In a separate interview with The Hollywood Reporter, in which Clarke discussed a number of things including the comic book she co-wrote (M.O.M.: Mother of Madness) and her mysterious role in the upcoming Marvel series Secret Invasion, there was also significant time given to discussing Clarke’s role in Star Wars of Qi’ra.

“She’s the one that has the most unfinished business,” Clarke said in the interview, agreeing that because of that it’s fair to say that Qi’ra is the role she’d most like to reprise. “I really had pages about what her life was and what it would be afterwards. But I’m afraid I’ve heard nothing of [Disney+] being the case, so maybe I’ll just write it and send it to them. I’ll be like, ‘Hey guys, I’ve got a few ideas.’”

Clarke’s career has already seen her star in Game of Thrones and Star Wars, and she’s going to be adding the Marvel Cinematic Universe soon too, so it’s saying something that Clarke sees Qi’ra as the one she might most like to revisit. It’s really cool to hear not just a willingness to return but a desire to do so and an investment in the character, such that she’s moved by the character’s appearance in a comic issue, has plenty of her own ideas about where things could go, and wants to return to the role. That’s pretty awesome.

And she’s right about Qi’ra having a lot of unfinished business. The last we saw of her in Solo, she had just killed Dryden Vos and taken his spot as the apparent leader of Crimson Dawn before reporting to Maul – revealed to be the true boss behind the crime syndicate – and being ordered to come to him on Dathomir. It’s an ending that’s practically screaming to be followed-up on. And thanks to the War of the Bounty Hunters comic, we know that Qi’ra survived beyond Maul and was the leader of Crimson Dawn by the galactic Civil War. How’d she get to that point, though? That’s a story I’d love to see. And I think Qi’ra’s story, maybe as much as anyone else in Solo, sets up potential for more sequel storytelling.

But she says too that she hasn’t heard about that being the case. When Qi’ra appeared in War of the Bounty Hunters, some people feared that it meant Lucasfilm had no immediate plans for Qi’ra in live-action and thus were ok with the story being told in a comic, and it appears that might indeed be the case. But with Clarke already having established the character of Qi’ra, already set to appear in a Disney+ series, and already expressing a desire to return to the character, I’m holding out hope that we might just see some further storytelling with her down the road.