How Leia's Resistance is Just Like the Rebellion in 'Last Jedi'

General Leia Organa’s Resistance suffered severe losses at the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. While many fans might have assumed that Leia’s Resistance would step into a position of power and fill the void left by the now-eviscerated Republic and its capital, think again. Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson recently described the Resistance as looking a whole lot more like the old Rebellion.

“No, no, no. Not at all,” Johnson told Entertainment Weekly of that possibility in a story published Thursday. “They’re a small band that’s now cut off, on its own, and hunted when the Republic is shattered. When the First Order did that hit, the Resistance is isolated, and they’re very, very vulnerable. That’s where we pick them up.”

Suddenly, Leia’s Resistance is feeling a lot more like the Rebellion first introduced in Star Wars: A New Hope. It’s going to have a difficult time keeping up with the First Order.

And after The Last Jedi, the Resistance will most likely be thrown into further turmoil. Carrie Fisher’s unexpected death in December 2016 forced the minds at Lucasfilm to scrap their original plans for Episode IX, as the film was supposed to feature Leia as the focus of the original trio of Luke, Han, and Leia. And since Disney announced that it will not be recreating Fisher via CGI like it did at the end of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, most fans have guessed that Leia will die in The Last Jedi.

A resistance without a general might have a hard time keeping focused. But the Rebellion also faced challenges back in the day and kept pushing forward. Leia’s Resistance will do just that, even if she is lost.

Because that’s exactly what Leia would expect of it.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi premieres in theaters on December 15.