When Carrie Fisher passed away late last year, it left many Star Wars fans wondering about the involvement of her character General Leia Organa in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VIII and Star Wars: Episode IX. It was previously reported that the actress had completed her filming for the upcoming eighth episode, but a new report from The Hollywood Reporter brings even more questions to the table.
THR notes that two key scenes involving Fisher’s character were planned for the remaining two episodes, including a reunion with her brother, Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker, and a confrontation with her son, Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren. The outlet is unsure about which of the two films these scenes will take place in, but they do report Leia was supposed to have an even bigger role in Episode IX than in Episode VIII, which itself was said to be bigger than her role in 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
The site also reveals that Episode IX director Colin Trevorrow is set to meet with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy to discuss their options for the film next week. It remains to be seen what those options are — such as rewriting the film around the character, recreating Fisher’s presence with a double and CGI enhancements, or potentially even recasting — but since production on Episode IX probably won’t begin until early next year, Lucasfilm still has plenty of time to decide on what to do.
In related Star Wars news, Adam Driver spoke to Larry King (via CBR) about his character in the upcoming Episode VIII and what aspect of the character he was most interested in exploring in the upcoming film:
“I think maybe this is such a general answer but you know, humanity. Even though it’s very much a blockbuster movie, and I’m aware of that, there was no taking that for granted and that we were forced to be general [in ‘The Force Awakens’]. There was a lot of plot points that we knew were operating in the first one, that we get to explain more in the second one, that kind of make both of them make sense. But they do kind of feel socially active to me. And George Lucas originally — a lot of ‘Star Wars’ was in response to Vietnam and a lot of what I remember talking about with [‘Force Awakens’ director] J.J. [Abrams] and [‘Episode VIII’ director] Rian [Johnson] was this idea of terrorism, and two sides being morally justified to behave however they wanted to to get whatever they thought was absolutely correct.”
You can watch that Larry King segment by clicking here.
Star Wars: Episode VIII is set to be released December 15, 2017.
