The young Leia is exhibiting a certain kind of wit and cunning in Obi-Wan Kenobi that many Star Wars fans might attribute to her unawakened connection to the Force. According to scriptwriter Joby Harold, however, Leia’s cleverness is more reflective of her own personality and lineage than Force-sensitivity.
In a recent chat with Inverse, Harold was asked if Leia’s brutal rant against her cousin and overall wittiness has anything to do with the Force. Here’s what the teleplay author had to say in response.
“‘If it’s a Force sensitivity, she certainly isn’t cognizant of it yet, neither would the people around her be,’ he noted. ‘But that level of perception would be consistent with that kind of ability. It would be in its most nascent form. That scene was an opportunity to show that she isn’t an ordinary kid, she’s something else.’”
She certainly is something else, at that. Leia grows up to become one of the greatest leaders of the Rebellion. Even after the Empire’s fall, the legacy hero paid special heed to the comings and goings of the galaxy, quickly organizing the Resistance to battle the looming threat of the First Order against the New Republic.
Leia’s first on-screen use of her Force powers goes back to The Empire Strikes Back, where she recognized Luke was in danger and saved his life by going back to Cloud City. She would go on to use those powers in The Last Jedi to save her life and The Rise of Skywalker to train Rey, with the last movie also revealing that the Alderaan princess trained under her brother Luke for a brief while.