Well, this is certainly…interesting.
The folks over at Dork Side of the Force have uncovered an online petition calling on Lucasfilm to cast Meryl Streep as Leia for Star Wars: Episode IX, and we’re not sure if it’s genius or totally bananas.
The petition, which is around 200 signatures short of its 8,000 target at the time of writing, champions the Oscar-winning Streep as the perfect replacement for Carrie Fisher, who so tragically passed away soon after the release of Rogue One in 2016. It does raise potentially alarming questions about tarnishing Fisher’s legacy, though, particularly after The Last Jedi included an after-credits tribute to the all-around Star Wars legend.
Be that as it may, here’s what the petition suggests:
As the fans of STAR WARS and Carrie Fisher, we really want Leia to shine in Episode IX and we certainly do not want her to be written out of the film abruptly without a reasonable plot. Therefore, recasting Leia is a more ideal option for us [sic] and we believe that Meryl Streep is an ideal candidate to play Leia. We strongly believed that she is the best hope for us to see the legacy of Carrie Fisher in Episode IX. May the force be with Carrie Fisher, Meryl Streep, and Princess Leia.
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 effectively off the table entirely, but thanks to The Last Jedi‘s official novelization, there is 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.
As for Streep’s chances of landing a Star Wars gig, well, let’s just say it would be unwise to hold your breath. Episode IX opens December 20th, 2019.
