AL1-L3 slowly rebuilt herself and began to work as a cargo hauler for droid clientele. By 34 ABY, this had resulted in a bounty being placed on her head, and while she was hiding in Black Spire Outpost on the planet Batuu her location was reported to the Bounty Hunters' Guild.
In 35 ABY, she heeded the call of L3-37's old allies Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca to aid the Resistance in defeating Darth Sidious and the Sith Eternal on the planet Exegol. After the Resistance and its allies emerged victorious, AL1-L3 returned to the Resistance base on the moon Ajan Kloss to celebrate.
AL1-L3 was inspired by L3-37's (pictured) uprising on Kessel.
AL1-L3 started out as a protocol droid with feminine programming who was forced to work in the administrative center of the criminal Pyke Syndicate's spice mines on the planet Kessel where she had been manufactured. In 10 BBY, she witnessed a enslaved and droid uprising within the mine led by the self-made droid L3-37. Shortly afterward, AL1-L3 was scrapped for disobedience and recycled, but she slowly rebuilt herself over the decades and gained more independence. Going by AL1-L3 or "Allie," she began operating as a cargo hauler for exclusively droid clientele and was at some point supplied with a cape by the Droid Gotra.
During the First Order occupation of the planet Batuu in 34 ABY, there was an outstanding bounty of 1300 credits on AL1-L3 for disobedience, evading arrest, illegal reprogramming and rebuilding, and smuggling droid clientele. While AL1-L3 was hiding in one of the buildings of Black Spire Outpost on Batuu, a visitor to the outpost was assigned her bounty by the Bounty Hunters' Guild. They discovered her location using a thermal scanner, which they then reported to the local Guildmaster's Hideout before collecting the bounty.
In 35 ABY, AL1-L3 was one of the many unaffiliated pilots who heeded the Resistance agents Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca's call for aid in helping to defeat the forces of the Sith Eternal above the planet Exegol. Calrissian and Chewbacca, who both fought alongside L3-37 in her revolution, guided the huge fleet of volunteers through the hyperspace anomalies of the Unknown Regions to Exegol, where they immediately engaged the Sith Eternal's fleet of Xyston-class Star Destroyers, the Final Order.
AL1-L3 celebrated on Ajan Kloss.
Shortly after AL1-L3 and her allies arrived, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious disabled the starships of the Resistance and their allies with a massive burst of Force lightning; however, once he diverted his attention to fighting the Jedi Rey, the ships became operational again, and the battle recommenced. Ultimately, the Resistance and its allies triumphed and destroyed the fleet.
AL1-L3 was among those who returned to the Resistance base on the jungle moon Ajan Kloss in order to celebrate. During the celebration, she walked alone past the droids BB-8 and D-O reuniting before standing with the bounty hunter Seleno Chandro and pilot Kid Malmash and gesturing animatedly while the pirate Maz Kanata met with Chewbacca.
AL1-L3 built herself into a bipedal droid with white plating, yellow photoreceptors, and a large amount of exposed internal black components. Seeing L3-37's rebellion offered her a powerful glimpse of an independent future, and it was this spark of independence that survived in the back of her processors as she was recycled.
AL1-L3 carried two paired, white Glie-44 blaster pistols with a thermal detonator and wore the striped brown cape supplied to her by the Droid Gotra as a serape. She used tan and white ablative heat-shielding as a processor helmet with two small antennae.
Dragon 21 by Jake Lunt Davies
AL1-L3 was portrayed by Stephanie Silva in the 2019 sequel trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker, and was first identified in the accompanying reference book Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary, which was written by Pablo Hidalgo.
Concept art of AL1-L3 titled "Dragon 21" was drawn for the film by creature concept designer Jake Lunt Davies and was based on an old design for L3-37 from the 2018 film, Solo: A Star Wars Story, which itself had been based on a design for a droid meant to appear in Canto Casino in the 2017 film Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi. Davies was pleased with the final design's femininity and use of a poncho and holsters.
The character's undersuit, leather holsters, and other soft costume parts were fabricated by Fiona Pollard with the hard edged parts such as the chest, back plates, and headpiece made by Sean Schofield, who also provided the paint work. The electronics in the headpiece were created by Lee Towersey, and the poncho was provided by the costuming department. The droid's guns were provided by the film's prop department, but the thermal detonator was created by Schofield years earlier for a Secret Cinema event. The costume had limited visibility and, although she had Phill Woodfine guiding her via earpiece, Silva at one point accidentally uppercut an extra with one of her guns.
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary
- The Art of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
- Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker home video release — Featurette: "Cast of Creatures"
- Star Wars Galaxy of Sounds — "Connections"