We already knew that Carrie Fisher, aka Princess Leia, would be returning to reprise her iconic role in J.J. Abrams’ upcoming series restarter Star Wars: Episode VII, but new information suggests that the character’s part in the film may be a lot more extensive than we previously realized.
Jim Jefferies, a comedian who currently stars on FXX’s Legit, was promoting the program on a Sirius XM radio show when he let slip that Fisher, who appears on an upcoming episode of Legit, will be taking a huge amount of time out of her schedule to film the sequel.
Discussing Fisher, Jefferies said:
She’s a funny lady, man. She’ll be smoking cigarettes outside and as soon as she gets inside, she’s straight on to the vapor. She’s had some fucking hard partying in her life, I tell ya….She said to me, she goes ‘I’m going off to London for six months to film the new Star Wars movie,’ right? And I don’t think from looking at it, the new Star Wars movie is a direct continuation. It’s number 7 but it’s not going to be the next day, I’ll tell you that much. Maybe she had the same problem the Emperor had, I don’t know.
The radio host laughed at Jefferies’ comment, but the comedian then reiterated, “She’s there for six months!” If Jefferies can be believed, and I don’t see why he would lie about something as tenuously connected to himself as that, it looks like Princess Leia will be taking on a pretty sizeable role in the film.
Star Wars: Episode VII will be beginning production in May, so Abrams is now in the process of firming up his cast. It was previously revealed that the Star Trek director wants Girls star Adam Driver for the role of the film’s main villain, and everyone from Jack Reynor to Jesse Plemons has been linked to the project at some point or other over the past few months. Whoever ends up leading the film, you can be sure that Star Wars fans will have something to say about it, so it’s likely relieving to many that hold-over Fisher will be on board in such a large capacity.
Star Wars: Episode VII will arrive on December 18, 2015.
