Carrie Fisher sadly passed away in December 2016, but Princess Leia’s story will continue in Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker. We already know that unused footage from The Force Awakens will be used to include the character in the closer to the Sequel Trilogy and last weekend at D23, director J.J. Abrams promised fans that Leia will be very important to the narrative, saying:
“The character of Leia is really, in a way, the heart of this story,” Abrams told the crowd at the expo, according to Variety. “We realized we could not possibly tell the end of these nine films without Leia. We realized that we had footage from Episode VII, and we could use it in a new way.”
Given that Rise is set to bring the Skywalker saga to an end, they couldn’t have made the movie without Leia, but what fans are most curious to learn is how will the Princess’ story come to a close? Will she be killed off? Will Abrams leave things open-ended? Will she make some kind of heroic sacrifice? Well, it seems we now know the answer, but before we reveal it, be warned that spoilers lie ahead.
Still with us? Good, because We Got This Covered has heard from our sources – the same ones who told us Ewan McGregor was returning as Obi-Wan back in May – that Leia will indeed die but instead of being killed or making the sacrifice play, she’ll be given a peaceful death as she’ll simply die of old age. We’ll see it for ourselves, too, but details beyond that are still unclear. For now, all we’ve been told is that she’ll die of old age.
We also don’t know how exactly she’ll factor into the grand scheme of things, but with The Rise of Skywalker looking to focus on the power struggle between Kylo Ren and Daisy Ridley’s Rey, we can’t imagine her having too large of a role. Even though Abrams has promised that Leia will be important to the story.
In any case, we’ll find out soon enough how things go for the Princess, as Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker brings the curtain down on Lucasfilm’s time-honored saga on December 20th.
