Spoilers ahead for Solo: A Star Wars Story. Much like Rogue One did in 2016, Solo: A Star Wars Story has the hard job of making fans love a Star Wars story that has little to do with the original movies. But where Rogue One had to endear us to entirely new characters, Solo gets to incorporate people fans know and love, like Han Solo himself (Alden Ehrenreich), Chewbacca, and Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover). But the movie also introduces some new characters, including a mysterious young woman who appears in the movie's climax and could have a major impact on the franchise. Yup, the rebel girl at the end of Solo might be the reason for the entire Rebellion.
The film features several other intriguing new characters, like Han's old girlfriend Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke), and the band of outlaws Han teams up with, including Woody Harrelson's Beckett, Thandie Newton's Val, and the female droid L3-37. But it's the young rebel leader who shows up at the end who stands out the most. The character, whose name is Enfys Nest (played by Erin Kellyman), appears in disguise early in the movie during a train heist on the icy planet Vandor-1. Fully masked, she and her band of Cloud Rider pirates attack Han, Val, and Beckett to thwart their smuggling attempt at stealing some highly volatile coaxium fuel from a train to deliver it to the mysterious group, Crimson Dawn.
Such a heist could set the thieves up with enough cash for years and allow Han to return to his home planet and rescue Qi'ra. But the Cloud Riders disrupt the plan and they lose out on that payload. It's for this reason that the pirates are considered the antagonizers and villains for much of the film. Their true motivations are kept a secret until much later.
Enfys and the Cloud Riders return during the climax of the film on the planet Savareen, where Han, Beckett, and Qi'ra make a second attempt at taking a load of the highly reactive coaxium, mined like coal, for processing. As Han and his band are about to deliver their payload, the pirates reappear, and try to derail their plans once again. The pirates have them surrounded, and that's when the pirate leader removes a threatening mask to reveal the face of a young, red-headed girl.
"I need a drink," the girl gruffly says, before explaining to Han and the gang that Crimson Dawn is essentially a colonizing entity who travels from planet to planet consuming resources and overpowering the planet's native population. Crimson Dawn, in turn, works for the Empire, and their heist to steal fuel would actually have helped the Empire displace more inhabitants of outlying planets for their own evil benefit.
Enfys Nest's explanation not only sparks a change in Han's heart, turning his motivation from one of purely selfish deeds to potentially grander empathy, but it also represents the dawn of the Rebellion. Remember, we're chronologically in a place here before Rogue One, but after Revenge of the Sith. Domination by the Empire has been fully established, but the Rebellion is still a budding bulb of a fight in the galaxy.
"We are allies," Enfys says of her small band of pirates who fight for the little guys on the little planets that can't defend themselves. "And the war has just begun."
After that scene, Star Wars fans will certainly be wondering more about Enfys Nest's origin. Star Wars movies tend to relate one character to another, especially since the universe is based on legacy and the connections between families. Some notable things about Enfys include the fact that her accent is pretty much the same as that of another beloved female Star Wars character, Rey, leading some to believe that Enfys might actually be Rey's mother. The timing would add up, and Enfys' staff-fighting skills are a match for Rey's abilities shown throughout the new trilogy. So Enfys being Rey's mom is possible, although Rey's parentage has been addressed a zillion times before, and Kylo Ren has already said that Rey's parents were nobodies.
Then again, Enfys could instead be the child of Thandie Newton's character Val and Woody Harrelson's Beckett. Her accent is also pretty similar to Val's, and though there's no suggestion that Val and Beckett's relationship resulted in a kid, connecting Enfys to others within the same Solo universe wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility.
Whomever Enfys is related to, she's definitely important, and she's likely going to become a huge symbol in the Rebellion. Her initiative and devotion to the outlying planets, and her rejection of the colonialist Empire, is a spark needed in the galaxy — and adding more badass women to Star Wars is only a plus.
