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You can retcon stuff in a game. It's not a mortal sin.
It's a game. If people at the table don't like something that happened, you can rewind and do it differently. Some players and GMs don't realise this, and think they're stuck with whatever happened.
A good reason to do this is if something goes beyond someone's boundaries. Maybe someone really, really doesn't want to deal with slavery in a game, or they have a phobia of something. And something happens that cuts a little too close to the bone and makes them uncomfortable. (Ideally this should never happen because you should know your co-players' boundaries, but it can happen by mistake, or if you weren't careful enough setting up expectations.)
However it happens, you don't have to just put up with it. A good GM will say, "Okay, sorry that happened. We'll all be more careful, and let's undo that and play it differently."
However, you don't need to do this just because something bad happened to a character. Obviously nobody normally likes their character to die, but that's not necessarily a reason to rewind. Maybe they stupidly triggered an obvious trap and deserve the consequences. The player can be upset, but should accept gracefully and make a new character.
You can retcon, but that doesn't mean you should, unless the out-of-game situation really demands it.
Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)
Ha ha! Chewie lives! And it is the second transport that was the key! I wonder what else was in that email; it wouldn't take an email just to plan out Chewbacca not dying right? Maybe Hux gets to have something stupid happen to him now?
Anyway, I know it's very much not how it's happening in the movie, but it really looks like the Millennium Falcon is the one towing the TIE fighters, not the other way around. Either way it's happening though, it's still amusingly nonsense. There's really no reason to have them connected at all, unless there weren't enough pilots to fly everything back at the same time.
Also amusing is that I didn't recognize Hux in his last two panels here. Something about the lighting on the face made me think he was a completely different character until I realized that was a white speech bubble from him. Plus, the fact that Hux is standing right next to Chewbacca threw me off. PC characters from the same PC being in the same scene is so rare that I wasn't expecting it at all!
Transcript
GM: Ben, can I grab you in the kitchen for a bit while the others plan?
General Hux: What’s up?
GM: Did you consider my email more?
General Hux: Yeah, but I’m fine with one of my characters dying.
GM: Okay. But it doesn’t need to be Chewbacca...
{sepia flashback panel to where Finn is looking at the Knights of Ren bundling Chewbacca into a transport}
GM: Nobody seems to have noticed that I said in passing there were two transports. {there are indeed two visible}
GM: So here’s what I want to do...
{scene in space of two PIE fighters escorting the Millennium Falcon towards a star destroyer}
[SFX]: vreeeeooooowww...
[SFX]: vreeeeooooowww...
General Hux: We lost one transport, but we captured the Millennium Falcon. The second transport delivered us a prisoner.
General Pryde: What prisoner?
General Hux: The Wookiee, Allegiant General. {Chewbacca is in restraints, guarded by several troopers}
General Pryde: So, the mighty Chewbacca, finally in chains.
Chewbacca: Finally? It’s not the first time. Nor the second.
General Pryde: You’ll tell us everything.
Chewbacca: Nor the third, fourth, or fifth, if you count the times I had to fake being captured for Han’s sake.
General Pryde: Take him away!
Chewbacca: I should get a loyalty card. One more time and I get a free jailbreak.