LucasFilm president Kathleen Kennedy has made an official statement about the future of the Star Wars films, stating definitively that there are no plans to use footage of the late Carrie Fisher in the upcoming Episode IX.
Fisher had finished filming her scenes for Episode VIII: The Last Jedi before her untimely death on December 27 of last year, but there were rumours that Episode IX, due for release in 2019, would include footage of her.
Last weekend, the actress’ brother Todd Fisher seemed to confirm this rumour, telling the media that his family had granted Disney and LucasFilm permission to use this footage (whatever it might be) in subsequent films.
Kennedy, however, denied this in a recent appearance on Good Morning America, saying that Todd Fisher was “probably confused” when he spoke to the press, and adding:
“We finished everything in XIII, and Carrie is absolutely phenomenal in the movie, and we’re so happy that we were able to complete shooting in the summer. Unfortunately, Carrie passed away, and so by the time we were well underway with Episode IX in our thoughts, we had not written the script yet. But we’ve regrouped. We started over again in January. So, sadly, Carrie will not be in IX. But we’ll see a lot of her in XIII, which is great.”
All things considered, LucasFilm have probably made the right choice by not trying to shoehorn pre-existing footage of Fisher into Episode IX, and allowing her final performance to stand by itself.
You can watch Kennedy speak on the topic below:
EXCLUSIVE: Lucasfilm President Kathy Kennedy says Carrie Fisher will NOT be in @StarWars Episode 9 as General Leia. #SWCO #TheLastJedi pic.twitter.com/gxH80QteYb
— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 14, 2017
The first trailer for The Last Jedi arrived yesterday, and the film is due for release in December.
Source: Vanity Fair.
Photo: Getty Images Archive.
