Carrie Fisher suddenly passed away in December 2016, shocking fans around the world. Her death also put a major disruption into the latest Star Wars trilogy. The author had finished filming her role as General Leia in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but she had been set to play a huge part in the series’ finale. Director J.J. Abrams explained that they would utilize unseen footage from Star Wars: The Force Awakens to give Carrie a proper goodbye.
On April 12, Disney released the first Star Wars IX teaser trailer, giving fans the first look at Carrie in the film. Watch the trailer above!
Carrie, who was 60 when she passed away, appears in the trailer hugging Rey, played by Daisy Ridley. A tear falls from Daisy’s eye as Mark Hamill says in the narration, “We’ll always be with you.” Mark’s character, Luke, died in the previous film.
J.J., 52, addressed the decision to include Carrie using unused footage at the Star Wars Celebration in Chicago on April 12.
“As I’ve said, we couldn’t,” he said about filling the void Carrie left. “We all talked about how to move on. She was the best, she was glorious, she was amazing. We all just loved her. It was impossible, there was no way. You don’t recast that part, and you don’t have her disappear. Using CGI was out of the question.”
Episode IX is subtitled The Rise of Skywalker. Fans have wondered if that means something about Leia’s son with Han Solo, Ben, played by Adam Driver.
Carrie’s real life daughter Billie Lourd will reprise her role in the third film of the trilogy as well. She appeared in TFA and TLJ alongside her mom.
J.J. said, “Every day it hits me that [Carrie’s] not here, but it’s so surreal because we’re working with her in scenes. She is alive in these scenes, and in some with Billie, her daughter. Princess Leia lives in this film in a way that is mind-blowing to me.”
What do you think of Carrie’s appearance in the last Star Wars film? Sound off in the comments!
