Rian Johnson Didn’t Tamper With Leia’s Story In The Last Jedi Despite Carrie Fisher’s Passing

It’s going on 12 months since the Star Wars community – and the Internet at large – said goodbye to a legend.

On December 27th, 2016, Carrie Fisher passed away far too soon, leaving the fate of General Leia Organa up for debate. As time wore on, and Lucasfilm walked back any comments about resurrecting Leia for Episode IX through a mixture of archival footage and CGI, it was rumored that Rian Johnson had drawn up plans for Fisher’s heroine to be written out of the Skywalker saga – and, crucially, not killed – in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

That’s still very much the case, though it seems J.J. Abrams will be the one to close the book on Leia’s saga come 2019. Per Rolling Stone, Johnson began by clarifying that the untimely death of Carrie Fisher had no effect on Leia’s involvement whatsoever.

We didn’t end up changing a thing. Luckily, we had a totally complete performance from her. You got to experience a little bit of that magical sphere that she created. I’m happy I got to poke my head into that, briefly, and know her even a little bit.

That “totally complete performance” will unfold at the helm of the Resistance, as the grieving Leia Organa – remember, she lost her one true love and constant pain in her ass (read: Han Solo) at the tail-end of The Force Awakens – though it looks certain that J.J. Abrams and screenwriter Chris Terrio (Justice League) will be left to grapple with Carrie Fisher’s absence in Star Wars: Episode IX.

Here’s what Abrams told Rolling Stone:

It’s a sad reality. In terms of going forward … time will tell what ends up getting done.

Beyond The Last Jedi, Disney and Lucasfilm have mapped out a preliminary blueprint for a whole new Star Wars trilogy, which will presumably begin sometime in the 2020s – sans Daisy Ridley.