What Happened To Qi’ra After Solo: A Star Wars Story

While Emilia Clarke’s Qi’ra was Han Solo’s first love as seen in Solo: A Star Wars Story, what happened next in the Star Wars timeline after she left him? Although Qi’ra’s story hasn’t been featured in any subsequent films or streaming series, her tale has continued in other Star Wars media, most notably in the pages of Marvel Comics’ canonical series set between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Qi’ra fate – and her leadership of the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate – has been explored across a full trilogy in the comics (and a role in Ubisoft’s Star Wars: Outlaws).

At the end of Solo: A Star Wars Story, Qi’ra killed the crime lord Dryden Vos so she could take his place as leader of Crimson Dawn. The crime cartel is one of five operating within the Dark Times of the Empire’s reign, all secretly ruled by Palpatine’s former Sith apprentice Darth Maul. But the ending only showed Qi’ra reporting in, leaving her future unclear. Given a Solo sequel definitely isn’t happening, it has fallen to other mediums to continue Qi’ra’s story – notably a trilogy of comic book events by Charles Soule and in Outlaws.

Qi’ra’s Star Wars Future After Solo Explained

Finishing What Darth Maul Could Not

In War of the Bounty Hunters, Qi’ra has become Lady Qi’ra, leading a reborn Crimson Dawn after The Empire Strikes Back. Qi’ra restructured and greatly expanded Crimson Dawn after Darth Maul’s death, embedding agents all over the galaxy. Furthermore, she stole Han Solo in his carbonite prison from Boba Fett while he was en route to deliver him to Jabba the Hutt, auctioning the smuggler off in a master scheme to pit the Hutts and Empire against each other. Fett retrieved Solo and handed him over to Jabba, who has the smuggler in Return of the Jedi.

Lady Qi’ra then moved on to the next phase of her plans with Soule’s Crimson Reign, using her vast network of agents and assassins (including the Knights of Ren) in a campaign against Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, wanting to cut off the head of the Empire itself by destroying the Sith. Using her contacts to create mass chaos with assassination attempts and tricking rival crime syndicates into warring with each to gain Palpatine’s favor, Qi’ra effectively destabilizes the order and control maintained by the Empire, including sending the Knights of Ren to rob the fortress of Darth Vader himself.

The final chapter brought forth the culmination of Qi’ra’s plans with the Hidden Empire. Having obtained an ancient artifact known as the Fermata Cage, Qi’ra seemingly hoped to unleash a Sith Lord against Palpatine and Vader, one who’d been suspended within the artifact for centuries. In truth, the Fermata Cage was empty, allowing Qi’ra to spring her trap and successfully time-lock Vader and Palpatine within. However, the Knights of Ren feared Palpatine more than Qi’ra, and they chose to save the Sith. Having risked and lost everything in her goal to destroy the Sith, Qi’ra fled and disappeared in failure.

Qi’ra’s Role In Star Wars Outlaws

Manipulating the Ashiga Clan

Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment’s Star Wars: Outlaws is also set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The game follows the story of Canto Bight thief Kay Vess and her rise in the galactic underworld as she gains favor/makes enemies with various crime syndicates. This includes Crimson Dawn and some brief encounters with Lady Qi’ra herself in Star Wars: Outlaws. Taking place sometime after Qi’ra’s auction of Han Solo, Kay meets Qi’ra during Crimson Dawn’s efforts to destabilize the Ashiga Clan syndicate operating from the icy mountain world of Kijimi.

The Ashiga Clan’s queen sought to expand and align her syndicate with the Empire in exchange for weapons contracts. However, Qi’ra and Crimson Dawn supported Krisk, the queen’s daughter who ultimately staged a coup to become the new queen. Having been pulled into the conflict, Kay confronted Qi’ra after the takeover, deducing that all Crimson Dawn wanted was to sow chaos (likely part of the grander syndicate war as seen in Crimson Reign).

Claiming that her actions were all in the service of future galactic freedom, Qi’ra tells Kay that she will do whatever is necessary to make that freedom happen after her eyes were opened to the ones who really pull the strings across the galaxy. This is of course a reference to Maul who told Qi’ra all about the Sith who secretly ruled the Empire and kept the galaxy oppressed. Likewise, Crimson Dawn’s attempts to move in on other syndicates’ operations and territories can be seen throughout Outlaws, maintaining Qi’ra’s primary objective as was established in the comics.

Why Is Qi’ra Not In The Original Trilogy?

While Marvel’s Star Wars comics reveal that Qi’ra was alive during the time of the original trilogy and interacted with Han and Leia, her preferred method of handling matters from the shadows justifies her lack of an on-screen presence during the actual movies. Likewise, her failure and lack of resources after her own war explains her absence in Return of the Jedi. However, the epilogue of Hidden Empire confirms she survived into the dawn of the New Republic Era and the Empire’s fall.

Just as Qi’ra moved on from Han Solo, it seems as if Han moved on from her before (or when) he met Leia. Likewise, the fall of Crimson Dawn and Qi’ra’s believed demise help explain her absence and lack of references to her character as well. While Qi’ra’s career with Crimson Dawn after Solo: A Star Wars Story is seemingly over in the comics, it’s possible she could return in a future Star Wars project taking place after Return of the Jedi.

Qi’ra Didn’t Kill Vader Or The Emperor (But Still Matters)

During the Crimson Dawn trilogy, Lady Qi’ra did interact with Princess Leia, conceding that Han Solo was better off with Leia than with Qi’ra herself. She argued that Leia brings out the best in Han, while she would only bring out the worst. This could be seen as a way of justifying why Han thinks of Leia as the love of his life instead of Qi’ra, therefore never mentioning Qi’ra in the main Star Wars movies.

An epilogue scene to Hidden Empire revealed that Qi’ra was still alive at the time of Return of the Jedi, although she did not join the celebrations of the Emperor’s death. By this point in the timeline, she no longer had a power base; she knew everything had happened without her, and her games were at an end. It was a sad end for such an influential figure.

But it’s important to note Qi’ra’s Star Wars story still has a significant effect on the universe. Qi’ra’s work resulted in massive upheaval to the criminal underworld, a chaos that kept the Empire busy, which in turn gave the Rebellion time to reform after the Battle of Hoth. Two of Qi’ra’s Crimson Dawn agents were even responsible for alerting the Rebellion about the existence of the second Death Star. For all of her failures, Lady Qi’ra made a major impact on the galaxy and the events that followed from Solo: A Star Wars Story.