A few months ago, Mark Hamill went on record advising against recasting Leia Organa for Star Wars: Episode IX, referring to the late Carrie Fisher as “irreplaceable” in the beloved role.
You can imagine he was relieved then to find out that Lucasfilm have no intention of finding a new actress to play his onscreen sister, and with the news going public that Fisher will instead feature in the film via pre-existing footage, the actor took to Twitter to show his support for the plan.
“It’s bittersweet facing my final chapter without her-She is simply irreplaceable. I’m finding solace in the fact that she won’t BE replaced & would love the worldwide outpouring of affection from those who loved her when they heard the news.#CarrieOnForever”
In the last year and a half, there’s been much speculation and debate among fans about if and how the studio will (or even should) bring back Leia for the upcoming J.J. Abrams-directed film. Some thought that Episode IX might take a similar route to Rogue One, which digitally recreated the likeness of Peter Cushing with controversial results. Others were already coming up with their own recasting suggestions, with an online petition to bring in Meryl Streep for the job garnering more than 12,000 signatures.
The studio’s eventual decision was confirmed on Friday as part of a larger statement on StarWars.com, taking a quote from Abrams to explain how they intend to do both Fisher and her character justice.
“We desperately loved Carrie Fisher. Finding a truly satisfying conclusion to the Skywalker saga without her eluded us. We were never going to recast, or use a CG character. With the support and blessing from her daughter, Billie, we have found a way to honor Carrie’s legacy and role as Leia in Episode IX by using unseen footage we shot together in Episode VII.”
Whatever method Lucasfilm settled on to bring Leia back was always going to be somewhat divisive, but we’ll see if Abrams and his crew can pull this approach off in an effective and tasteful manner when Star Wars: Episode IX blasts into theaters on December 20th, 2019.
