Star Wars: Rian Johnson Had To Complete Carrie Fisher's ADR After Her Death for 'The Last Jedi'

After the announcement of Carrie Fisher's passing late last year, The Last Jedi writer/director Rian Johnson and Lucasfilm assured fans that the actress had completed filming on the production and that her character wouldn't be recast. Unfortunately, Fisher hadn't gotten to finish her ADR, or Additional Dialogue Recording, which is used to replace low quality audio recordings or even used to substitute lines. This forced Johnson and the audio team to get creative to complete her lines.

"We had to do a lot of sound work and that was kind of tough, but we managed," Johnson told Rolling Stone. "We have a great sound team and we managed to pull her dialogue out and find little snippets from here and there and make it work. You do what you've gotta do."

The practice of ADR on a big studio film like this is quite common, as there can be a lot of commotion on set that interferes with an actor's dialogue. The big question is whether or not this dialogue was merely a higher quality recording of the original lines or if Johnson composed all-new lines to accommodate for Fisher not appearing in Episode IX.

"I think Carrie gives a really beautiful performance in the film and… we obviously didn't make the movie to be her final film, final Star Wars movie," Johnson shared with Good Morning America earlier this year. "Given that though, I think there are scenes that she has that are going to mean a lot to people. There are scenes that we have with her where now, not having her around, I watch them and … I'm really thankful that we have that and we can give that to people."

Whether or not her completed performance resolves Leia's story is up for debate.

"Wraps up nicely? I don't know," Johnson added. "But emotionally gives some kind of catharsis, gives some kind of emotional satisfaction, I think so. I know for me it does."

Many fans have also wondered if Episode IX will potentially utilize unused footage of the actress to complete her journey.

"Sadly, Carrie will not be in nine," Kennedy told Entertainment Weekly. "But we will see a lot of Carrie in eight."

With it being obvious that Fisher couldn't shoot new scenes, Kennedy's comments imply she won't at all appear in Episode IX in any capacity.

Audiences will get to see Fisher's final performance when The Last Jedi hits theaters on December 15.

[H/T Rolling Stone]