‘Star Wars: Episode 9’ Will Use Existing Footage Of Carrie Fisher To Bring Back General Leia
Last year, Hollywood was hit hard with the death ofCarrie Fisher, leavingStar Warsfans mourning for the loss of Princess Leia. After grief had passed, many wonderedhow the saga would proceedwithout Carrie Fisher able to return to the franchise. The actress had already completed her shooting forStar Wars: The Last Jedi, but what would happen to Leia without Carrie Fisher around to give her a proper send-off?
Lucasfilm and Disney have already confirmed thatvisual effects willnotbe usedto bring Carrie Fisher to life on the big screen again, even though they recently achieved the feat of bringing Peter Cushing back as Grand Moff Tarkin inRogue One: A Star Wars Story. Instead, it turns out we’ll see Carrie Fisher returning forStar Wars Episode 9thanks to existing footage of the actress.
The latest update on how theStar Warssaga will handle the passing of Carrie Fisher’s comes from the actress' brotherTodd Fisher. He spoke withThe New York Daily Newsrecently and revealed that he and Carrie Fisher’s daughterBillie Lourd(who also has a small supporting role in the newStar Warsmovies), granted Disney and Lucasfilm permission to use existing footage that was shot forThe Last Jedi, as well asThe Force Awakens, in order to allow General Leia to appear inStar Wars Episode 9. Here’s what he had to say:
“Both of us were like, ‘Yes, how do you take her out of it?’ And the answer is you don’t. She’s as much a part of it as anything and I think her presence now is even more powerful than it was, like Obi Wan — when the saber cuts him down he becomes more powerful. I feel like that’s what’s happened with Carrie. I think the legacy should continue… To me, Star Wars is the holy grail of storytelling and lore and you can’t mess with it.”
The biggest question is what will happen to General Leia in order for us to say farewell to the character in theStar Warssaga? We know thatStar Wars: The Last Jedihasn’t been alteredto account for the passing of Carrie Fisher, but since we don’t know what happens with her character in that movie, it’s tough to predict how we might see her appear inStar Wars Episode 9.
Though visual effects won’t be employed to create new “footage” of Carrie Fisher in the same way that Peter Cushing was brought back to life forRogue One, the footage fromThe Last Jediwill need to be repurposed for use inEpisode 9. So it’s likely visual effects may be used to digitally place General Leia in different scenes, or to have a stand-in appear and have dialogue from previously shot footage come from off-screen. It all depends on what kind of scenes we’re talking about. Hopefully the final moments fans get to spend with General Leia will be satisfying.
