Last week, it was reported that Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy and Star Wars: Episode IX director Colin Trevorrow would be meeting to discuss how to handle the character of Princess Leia in the saga, following the untimely passing of Carrie Fisher in December.
The report claimed that the options on the table were to overhaul the script in order to remove the character, or to reduce her role and use CGI in order to digitally recreate Fisher’s likeness, similar to what ILM did with Peter Cushing’s Grand Moff Tarkin and Fisher’s young Princess Leia in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Well, it seems that Disney and Lucasfilm may have decided to go down the latter route, as BBC Newsnight (via The Guardian) has reported that, “with what might be regarded as unseemly haste, Disney is negotiating with the actor’s estate over her continued appearance in the franchise.”
If the above is true, it would appear that Lucasfilm is planning to incorporate a CGI Leia into Episode IX, and perhaps even Star Wars: Episode VIII if some of Fisher’s completed scenes need to be reshot or reworked.
What do you make of this news? Should they use CGI to include Leia in Episode IX, or would you prefer the character was written out? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below…
Originally published January 13, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
