George Lucas’s original idea for Star Wars was to tell this epic story through the eyes of the lowly droids. Well, the new Star Wars movies put a bit more focus on the humans but the droids steal the show. Solo: A Star Wars Story is no exception, with the introduction of L3-37.
Solo tells the story of Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich)’s first adventure. He picks up the droid L3-37 from a crew of smugglers he joins to escape the battlefield. Phoebe Waller-Bridge plays L3-37.
“Well, L3 is a real inspiration to me, so thanks, guys,” Waller-Bridge said to screenwriters Lawrence and Jonathan Kasdan who created her. “She’s a self-made droid, so she created herself out of parts of other droids.”
Fortunately, L3-37 comes to Solo: A Star Wars Story fully formed, so we don’t have to worry about how exactly she built herself.
“It sounds kind of frightening, actually, when I put it like that,” Waller-Bridge considered. “It’s like, where did you get those bits? Um, but she creates herself out of astromech droids and protocol droids so she turns herself into a unique creature that’s kind of taller, stronger, more independent than she originally was.”
L3-37 gets the best lines in Solo: A Star Wars Story as she pleads for droid rights. “She’s got a great attitude and she’s very upbeat, really fun to be around,” Waller-Bridge said. “She’s fearless, she’s uncensored, she’s very funny and she’s a revolutionary and she has an agenda, which is bigger than the sum of her parts, which is something that’s really extraordinary for her character.”
In one of her first scenes, L3-37 faces off against the leader of a droid fighting ring, played by none other than Clint Howard, director Ron Howard’s own brother.
“He was great,” Waller-Bridge said. “He was just like, ‘Hit me harder!’”
L3-37 has the line that everyone’s going to be quoting. We won’t spoil it, but when you hear it, screenwriter Jonathan Kasdan confirms that it was Waller-Bridge’s own improv.
“That is Phoebe Waller-Bridge,” Kasdan said. “To have performers and writers in their own right who can contribute a better idea on top of what you’ve created is a big part of it. That is a perfect example of something that just feels totally true to her character and to what we wanted it to be.”
Waller-Bridge also appreciated the chance to champion the cause of droid rights in the Star Wars universe.
“It’s great to play a droid with a message,” Waller-Bridge said. “She’s great.”
Discover L3-37 in Solo: A Star Wars Story in theaters May 25.