The fate of General Leia Organa hangs in the balance. And we’re not just talking about her hotly-contested spacewalk.
For in The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson allowed Leia to leave Crait with her life intact – perhaps in fear that killing off two Skywalkers would have sent Star Wars fans into a tizzy. It was also a tactical move that ensured Luke and Leia were able to reunite in Episode VIII – albeit via Force projection – all the while offering closure for Carrie Fisher’s on-screen General following the tragic death of her scruffy-looking nerf herder, Han Solo.
That’s all well and good, but it does raise a bigger question: how will J.J. Abrams and screenwriter Chris Terrio (Justice League) handle Leia’s inevitable exit in Star Wars: Episode IX? Last seen in the company of Rey and the remnants of the Resistance, we know that a CGI Carrie Fisher is off the table entirely, but thanks to The Last Jedi‘s newly-unveiled novelization, there is now reason to believe that Leia Organa will succumb to solar radiation and hypoxia – that is, an oxygen deficiency in the muscles – come 2019, symptoms one would associate with an unscheduled spacewalk.
It’s by no means the only piece of intel to be uncovered from The Last Jedi‘s tie-in novel, given those clues about a possible Kylo/Rey romance and Luke Skywalker’s long-lost wife. But we’ll have to reserve any judgment on Episode IX until J.J. Abrams and Co. get the cameras rolling later this year.
Because once Solo takes flight this May, all eyes in the galaxy will fall upon Star Wars: Episode IX, the so-far untitled threequel that’s due to begin filming in July.
It’s currently on target for a release on December 20th, 2019, by which point we should have a better understanding of Lucasfilm’s other Star Wars projects – specifically those in the works from Rian Johnson (The Last Jedi) and David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who are just now putting the final touches to HBO’s Game of Thrones finale.
