Thanks to Friday’s The Last Jedi panel at the Star Wars Celebration, galaxy far, far away fans are sure to be on the lookout for the character of Rose when Episode VIII hits theaters in December.
Played by Kelly Marie Tran, the Resistance maintenance worker was described by director Rian Johnson as having a major role in the film.
“[She] has the biggest new part in the movie and ironically is played by the smallest actor,” he said of Tran. “She’s not a soldier. She’s not looking to be a hero, and she gets pulled in a very big way into an adventure in this movie with Finn [John Boyega].”
Tran also appeared onstage at the event to chat about the role, revealing she had to keep her involvement in the franchise secret from everyone, including her family.
“They didn’t know for four months,” she said. “I told them I was doing an indie movie in Canada. At one point, I actually got some maple syrup so I could bring it back to them so they actually thought I was in Canada.”
Tran has previously appeared in a series of CollegeHumor Originals, as well as NBC’s sitcom adaptation of About a Boy.
Watch the trailer for The Last Jedi above.
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Write to Megan McCluskey at megan.mccluskey@time.com