Three Disney princesses have officially joined Star Wars in the last 7 years

Over the past seven years, these three Disney princess actresses have come together Star Wars—one as recently as December 2024. When Disney bought Star Warsmany jokes have been made about Princess Leia now technically being a Disney princess. Of course, no matter how much people talk about it, Leia isn't actually a Disney princess, because that label has its own meaning.

Since the acquisition of Disney by Star Wars in 2012, however, Star Wars films and TV shows have cast three actresses who actually had leading roles in Disney princess films. The most recent addition was introduced in episode 5 of Star Wars newest TV show, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. Although she may look and sound very different in this new role, Skeleton Crew new bounty hunter Pokkit shares an actress with one of Disney's most popular princesses from 12 years ago.

Pokkit from Skeleton Crew was also the voice of Mérida

Kelly Macdonald's New Role Looks Very Different

Skeleton Crew Episode 5 introduced Pokkit, a bounty hunter who recognizes Jod Na Nawood (who she knows as Dash Zentin) and collects his bounty by sending a "crew of murderous pirates" after Jod and the kids. While she may play a ruthless bounty hunter in Star Warshowever, Kelly Macdonald also voiced Merida in the 2012 Disney film Brave. Merida is one of Disney's bravest princesses, perhaps making this connection more fitting than one might expect.

Of course, Merida is far from a bounty hunter, but she is a fierce and headstrong young princess who refuses to marry at her parents' behest and insists on saving herself. In the end, she proves herself to be an adequate leader, subverting her culture's expectations and taking everyone by surprise. Pokkit may not be that noble, but it makes sense that these two characters share an actress. This also makes Pokkit one of the three Star Wars characters portrayed by Disney princess actresses.

Kelly Macdonald joins Ming-Na Wen and Kelly Marie Tran

Mulan and Raya's voice actresses are also in Star Wars

In addition to Macdonald's Pokkit, Ming-Na Wen appeared in both Star Wars as Fennec Shand and Disney as Mulan, and Kelly Marie Tran played Rose Tico in Star Wars and Raya in Raya and the Last Dragon. Once again, there are some surprising connections between these characters. Wen, who voiced Mulan in the original animated version of the 1998 film, played Fennec Shand in several Star Wars shows, including The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.

While Fennec and Mulan certainly have very different motivations and value systems, both women are fearless, strong, and skilled. Kelly Marie Tran's two characters are perhaps even more directly linked, as they are both unlikely heroes who end up saving countless people's lives. Rose Tico initially feels like an outsider Star Wars: The Last Jedi but becomes a true Resistance fighter, and Raya goes from living an isolated life to being the person who brings back all the dragons.

Currently, only Macdonald Wen and Tran have been Disney princesses and Star Wars characters. With Disney ownership Star Warshowever, perhaps there will be more connections like these in the future. In the meantime, it was a pleasant surprise to see that Kelly Macdonald, actress from Disney's Merida, has now joined the Star Wars galaxy like Pokkit in Skeleton Crew.

The first five episodes of Skeleton Crew are now streaming on Disney+.