Kelly Marie Tran Calls 'Star Wars' Experience 'Really Special' Despite Rose Tico's Cut Scenes

Kelly Marie Tran, who played Rose Tico in the film “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” attended the 2020 Academy Awards on Sunday, where she stopped on the red carpet for a few questions about her role in the J.J. Abrams film.

Josh Horowitz of MTV News noted that Tran hasn’t been spotted since the premiere of that last “Star Wars” film. This led to a question about how Tran’s role in the franchise was seemingly cut down to only a few scenes after some polarizing reactions from fans. Her screen time in “Rise of Skywalker” was reportedly cut down to 76 seconds in total, according to The Verge.

Fans of the actress and her character Tico were less than pleased by her omission and only had questions as to why she was missing. Many were frustrated that Abrams would give in to the supposed online bullies and limit her screen time.

“Were you surprised by what the fans were saying,” Horowitz asked Tran, “And how they were bummed that maybe some stuff was cut?”

Tran answered by stating how blessed she felt to be a part of the whole franchise, something she feels is “bigger than” she is. “['Star Wars: The Last Jedi'] was my first movie, you know? So I think I’m finally starting to realize that when you’re in something of that caliber, there’s so many people working to make something out of love,” the actress responded. “And no matter what you do, there’s always going to be those people who aren’t happy with that.”

Tran goes on to say that the lesson she learned from this experience is to stay “present” and to just enjoy the moment while it’s there. “I’m really grateful I got to be a part of it,” she said.

Despite not having the most screen time, Tran says that she’s amazed by how Abrams was able to wrap up all these individual little stories from these new characters introduced in the new trilogy, as well as the original one.

According to Tran, her experience was still “really special.”