By: Scott Johnson on March 6, 2013
When Palm Beach Illustrated asked Carrie Fisher is she could confirm that she would be reprising the role of Princess Leia in Star Wars, they quoted her as telling them “Yes.” There was no notation that she winked, laughed, or was joking. We noted when we covered the story that Carrie Fisher might later claim that she was just saying she would return if asked or something along those lines.
Now that a number of news outlets have picked up the story, her rep has provided the explanation to CNN that Carrie Fisher was only joking when she gave her answer. CNN quotes her rep a saying, “She was joking. Nothing has been announced.” Surprisingly, this isn’t the first time that Carrie Fisher’s rep has used the joking excuse to explain away her comments. Carrie Fisher was asked last year at a New Jersey book signing if she was going to be in the new Star Wars movies, and she reportedly replied, “Yes, I thought it was already common knowledge.” After the story started to spread around the Internet, her rep told EOnline that she was only kidding.
So did Carrie Fisher not learn the first time that Star Wars Episode 7 is nothing to joke about? Heck, most of the Internet has reported that Harrison Ford has already signed a deal to return as Han Solo without Ford even opening his mouth. Fisher should have realized the firestorm that actually telling a reporter “Yes” would create.
So what’s going on? Our bet is that Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and Harrison Ford are already under contract, but Disney wants to save the announcement for a certain date to make a big deal of it. And Carrie Fisher keeps answering the question honestly, and her poor rep has to keep explaining it away to keep Disney happy.
