Carrie Fisher’s tragic passing last year left Star Wars fans around the world heartbroken, and ever since, one of the biggest questions has been how will Lucasfilm handle the actress’ untimely death moving forward? We know that she’s set to feature in The Last Jedi, and holds a fairly large role in it, from what we hear, but what comes after that?
Right now, we can’t say for sure. The studio has refused to comment on how they’ll be handling Leia’s arc moving forward and though John Boyega mentioned last week that the character will be kept alive – leading us to believe she’ll simply be written out of the story – that hasn’t been confirmed. As such, all we can do is continue to speculate for the next few months until Rian Johnson’s film hits theatres.
However, if there’s one thing that’s for certain, it’s that the loss of Fisher is definitely being felt, especially by her co-stars. Speaking to Variety in a recent interview, Boyega was asked what he misses most about Carrie, and had the following to say:
“Carrie Fisher means freedom,” the actor shared. “She influenced people to be authentic and say what you want, however you want. I’ll miss her energy. You were always going to hear Carrie Fisher somewhere saying something that she has no business saying, that makes everybody laugh.”
The Detroit star’s comments fall in line with what we’ve heard from Fisher’s other colleagues, making it clear that she touched everyone around her and left a lasting impact. It’ll be a pretty emotional experience going into The Last Jedi knowing that it’s the final time we’ll see her on the big screen, but given everything we’ve heard, it appears that Lucasfilm is handling the situation with love and respect and we have full faith in them to give Leia the sendoff she deserves.
On December 15th, Rian Johnson will lift the lid on Star Wars: The Last Jedi. It’s the third marquee blockbuster to come out of Disney and Lucasfilm since that aforementioned acquisition, though it seems the fourth (read: Han Solo) isn’t having much luck by comparison, given that the Mouse House has parted ways with Phil Lord and Chris Miller over creative differences. Ron Howard has since stepped in though and seems to have things under control, so we’re hopeful that all will turn out ok in the end.