Before the passing of Carrie Fisher back in 2016, J.J. Abrams reportedly had big plans lined up for Leia Organa in Star Wars: Episode IX, but while the movie has since undergone rewrites, Leia is still getting some screen time by way of unused footage from the filming of The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.
The decision to include Fisher was made with the approval of her brother Todd, who mentioned last year that he’s “thrilled” about the sendoff that the film offers Leia, and according to Mark Hamill, the actress herself would’ve likely been pleased with her continued screen presence, telling Den of Geek:
“Harrison was more prominent in the first of the sequels, then I was more prominent, and Carrie was meant to be more prominent in the third. I’m glad they found a way to do that, and something tells me that she’d get a real kick out of the fact that she had a hit movie years after she left us, because that was just her. I like to think that would please her, but nothing would be better than having her here.”
Though very little’s known about Fisher’s screen time in Episode IX, actor Oscar Isaac claimed last November that the film deals with her absence “in a really beautiful way,” and from the sound of things, Hamill is pretty happy himself with the results.
Interestingly, a report emerged last month saying that actress Daisy Ridley has reverted back to Rey’s hairstyle from The Force Awakens (as per the recent set photo) in order to match with old footage of herself performing opposite Fisher, implying that the pair will be sharing the screen at some point.
Beyond that, details on both Leia’s role and the film as a whole remain vague, but with the annual Star Wars Celebration just over a month away, hopefully we won’t have too much longer to wait until we see some footage, or at least find out the movie’s official title. Either way, all will be revealed by the time Star Wars: Episode IX hits theaters on December 20th, 2019.
