'Star Wars: Episode IX' and the Loss of Carrie Fisher

A New Hope

The Last Jedi, in what would prove to be Fisher's final Star Wars film, saw the fiery-as-ever leader pass the torch to hotshot pilot Poe Dameron, telling a dwindling assemblage of rebels to "follow him."

The flyboy isn't just a sort of surrogate son for Leia — whose sole offspring is now commanding the First Order — but according to Isaac, she also sees in Poe "the potential for a truly great leader of the Resistance and beyond."

"Poe's arc is one of evolving from a heroic soldier to a seasoned leader, to see beyond the single-mindedness of winning the battle to the larger picture of the future of the galaxy," Isaac told Entertainment Weekly. "I think Leia knows she won't be around forever and she, with tough love, wants to push Poe to be more than the badass pilot, to temper his heroic impulses with wisdom and clarity."

Even with Poe primed as the new Resistance leader for Episode IX, Leia was still alive by Last Jedi's end — tasking studio Lucasfilm with finding a way to resolve Leia's story without her beloved actress at hand.

The Last Star Wars

How do you replace the irreplaceable Carrie Fisher? If you're Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, you don't.

Foregoing any digital trickery — the same kind used to salvage an unfinished Paul Walker performance on Furious 7, which was completed after the actor's death with the use of body doubles and CGI recreations — Leia won't appear in Episode IX.

"Sadly, Carrie will not be in [Episode IX]," Kennedy told ABC News in April 2017.

Two weeks after Fisher's death, Lucasfilm released a statement through the official Star Wars website directly addressing rumors the studio considered resurrecting the actress via CGI for Episode IX.

"We want to assure our fans that Lucasfilm has no plans to digitally recreate Carrie Fisher's performance as Princess or General Leia Organa," the statement read.

A Bigger Role

With Harrison Ford's Han Solo dead and Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker having vanished into the Force, Leia was poised to take on a pivotal role in the trilogy-closing Episode IX.

Colin Trevorrow, the then-director of Episode IX, told the Irish Examiner in June 2017 Fisher "had a major role in the film," adding the plan was to "keep her soul alive" in what has been called the conclusion of the Skywalker saga.

Hamill, who is likely to return in Episode IX as a Force ghost, opened up about Leia's future in the franchise during a visit to New York Comic Con in October.

"I know they're going to try and find a way to close her story in [Episode IX] that gives her the respect she deserves," Hamill said. "Because [Han] was more prominent in [The Force Awakens], Luke's a little more prominent in [The Last Jedi], and certainly Leia was meant to be more prominent in [IX]."

Leia's Movie

Kennedy confirmed those comments in a conversation with Vanity Fair, telling the magazine the plan was to have Leia — and Carrie — at the forefront of episode nine.

Immediately after filming The Last Jedi, the producer recalled, Fisher was eager to return for more.

"She was having a blast," Kennedy said. "The minute she finished, she grabbed me and said, 'I'd better be at the forefront of IX!' Because Harrison was front and center on VII, and Mark is front and center on VIII. She thought IX would be her movie. And it would have been."

A New Director

Trevorrow was fired in September, and Kennedy tapped The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams to steer Episode IX.

Abrams tossed the script drafts conceived by Trevorrow and his Jurassic World writing partner Derek Connolly, forging ahead with a new script co-written by Abrams and Chris Terrio (Argo, Justice League).

Its script complete, Episode IX heads in front of cameras in July.

Always Be With You

The characteristically tight-lipped Abrams hasn't revealed how he'll be handling Leia come Episode IX, but Carrie Fisher's family — daughter Billie Lourd and brother Todd Fisher — gave Lucasfilm their blessing to use "recent footage" for the finale, Fisher told the New York Daily News.

"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," Fisher said. "I feel like that's what's happened with Carrie. I think the legacy should continue."

"I'm not the only part in that equation, but I think the people deserve to have her," he added. "She's owned by them."

Despite those comments, made in April 2017, Kennedy almost immediately affirmed Carrie Fisher won't be appearing in Episode IX.

Leia's Sickness

The Last Jedi: Expanded Edition — the film's official novelization by author Jason Fry — could have revealed Leia's potential fate come Episode IX.

The novel, which was written with input from The Last Jedi writer-director Rian Johnson, "expands on the film to include scenes from alternate versions of the script and other additional content," per its description.

When the Resistance comes under attack by the First Order, the rebel leaders are wiped out with one massive blow to their ship's bridge. Leia is blasted into space, but uses the Force to gently return herself to the confines of the ship.

The attack briefly left Leia in a coma, only for her to later awaken and return during a climactic standoff between Poe and the ship's new leadership.

The novel reveals Leia suffered from solar radiation and hypoxia — a deficiency in the amount of oxygen reaching the tissues — which could ultimately cost the Resistance general her life by the time Episode IX comes around.

A Little More Carrie

However Episode IX handles Leia's exit, Johnson wanted to leave Fisher's final Star Wars performance in tact.

"She passed away around New Years. We got back after the holiday break and went in the edit room and looked through all of her scenes and had a conversation with [Kennedy] and the question briefly arose, 'Do we try and do something? Do we try and manufacture an ending for the character or something?'" Johnson told the Bullseye with Jesse Thorn podcast.

"I felt strongly and we decided pretty quickly, no, we're gonna let this performance stand."

Restructuring the film to include a permanent send off for Leia would have taken that burden off the shoulders of IX, but such a drastic alteration would have crippled The Last Jedi.

"And also because her performance, I thought, was beautiful and I thought that if we did that, we'd have to lose some element of it — whether it was the scene with Luke or the scene at the end with her and Daisy in the Falcon," Johnson said.

"I want, especially now, I want to leave the movie with Carrie Fisher having told me the words of hope at the end of this movie. I wanted the world to have this performance of hers."

Johnson later told The Hollywood Reporter he has faith Abrams will bring a satisfying conclusion to Leia's story.

"Luckily we have a fantastic storyteller in J.J. Abrams who is going to figure out a way to bring it home in the end, that's going to be satisfying, I know he's going to," Johnson said. "With this movie I just wanted audiences to have this performance."

Farewell, Princess

However Abrams handles Leia's portion of the story in Episode IX, his reverence for the departed Fisher is clear.

"She was extraordinary and it's impossible to to really quantify the impact she had on not just legions of movies and books, but also her friends," Abrams told reporters after the 74th Golden Globes, which aired a touching tribute in the actress' honor.

Abrams eulogized Fisher on Twitter in light of her passing, writing: "You didn't need to meet Carrie Fisher to understand her power. She was just as brilliant, beautiful, tough and wonderful, incisive and funny as you could imagine. What an unfair thing to lose her. How lucky to have been blessed with her at all."

Star Wars: Episode IX opens December 20, 2019.