A few days ago Carrie Fisher’s brother, Todd Fisher, said he and his niece Billie Lourd had given their permission to Disney and Lucasfilm to use pre-existing footage of the late actress for use in Star Wars: Episode IX. However, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has now revealed that Fisher will not appear in Episode IX after all.
Speaking with Good Morning America, Kennedy stated that: “He [Todd] was probably confused. We finished everything in The Last Jedi and Carrie is absolutely phenomenal in the movie. We’re so happy we were able to complete shooting in the summer. Unfortunately Carrie passed away so by the time we were well underway with Episode IX in our thoughts, we had not written a script yet, but we’ve regrouped and started over in January. So, sadly, Carrie will not be in IX. We’ll see a lot of her in VIII which is great.”
This is a bit of a turnaround, but shouldn’t be too surprising given their statement back in January that they had no intention of digitally recreating Fisher’s appearance for the film. She was originally to star in IX, but, as Kennedy said, they had to readjust their story in light of Fisher’s passing. Given that Lucasfilm also won’t alter or cut any of her scenes in Star Wars: The Last Jedi hopefully there will be some measure of closure for her character and story.
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Originally published April 15, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
