With the tragic passing of Carrie Fisher late last year, many questioned what would become of Princess Leia role in the ongoing Star Wars saga, especially the still to be filmed Episode IX. Previous comments from Todd Fisher, the late actresses brother, seemed to suggest that cut footage from The Last Jedi would be used to keep Fisher’s story going till the very end, going as far as saying he and Carrie’s daughter, Billie Lourd, gave Disney permission to use the footage. But that seems to be not true, with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy telling Good Morning America that The Last Jedi will be the last time we see Leia, stating that Todd Fisher was “probably confused”:
We finished everything in VIII and Carrie is absolutely phenomenal in the movie, and we’re so happy we were able to complete filming in the summer. Unfortunately, Carrie passed away [at a] time when we were well underway with Episode IX in our thoughts. We had not written a script yet. But we’ve regrouped. We started over again in January. Sadly, Carrie will not be in IX.
It’s a bit of surprise, especially with Todd Fisher’s words of “how do you take her out of it?’ And the answer is, you don’t” being agreed upon by Star Wars fans the world over. But on the other hand, do we want to prolong the process of saying goodbye to her all over again? Kennedy went on to say that “we will see a lot of Carrie in 8”, so we can rest assured that our princess will get a proper send off.
We finished everything in VIII and Carrie is absolutely phenomenal in the movie, and we’re so happy we were able to complete filming in the summer. Unfortunately, Carrie passed away [at a] time when we were well underway with Episode IX in our thoughts. We had not written a script yet. But we’ve regrouped. We started over again in January. Sadly, Carrie will not be in IX.
It’s a bit of surprise, especially with Todd Fisher’s words of “how do you take her out of it?’ And the answer is, you don’t” being agreed upon by Star Wars fans the world over. But on the other hand, do we want to prolong the process of saying goodbye to her all over again? Kennedy went on to say that “we will see a lot of Carrie in 8”, so we can rest assured that our princess will get a proper send off.
