Ever since Star Wars: The Last Jedi came out and split the fanbase in half, the one thing most fans can agree on is that they want to watch Episode IX. Some want JJ Abrams to come “fix” what director Rian Johnson did with the story and others want JJ to build on the interesting ideas and characterization Johnson brought to the table.
The filming of Star Wars Episode IX began last week so imagine our surprise when it was announced that the late Carrie Fisher will make a posthumous appearance on screen! She will be General Leia in the movie, alongside actor Mark Hamill, who is to return as Luke Skywalker.
While this is great news for Star Wars fans who miss her, it is also a bit of a complicated matter. Though her character of Leia Organa is still alive in the 2017 movie, the actress passed away in 2016.
“We desperately loved Carrie Fisher,” said JJ Abrams, who also directed Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. He went on to state that they couldn’t find a way to truly conclude the Skywalker saga without her.
We at Sevenpie were wondering how they would do this. We hoped that it wouldn’t be a CGI creation like in Rogue One, which saw a de-aged CGI recreation of Princess Leia and the deceased actor Peter Cushing brought back in the role of Grand Moff Tarkin. The move turned out to be quite controversial with many fans feeling that it was disrespectful to the legacy of the actor.
However, it seems that Carrie Fisher is not being resurrected via CGI, nor is her role being recast. Instead, they plan to take unused footage from the Force Awakens and rework it into the story for her scenes. They also stated that they have the consent of her daughter Billie Lourd to do this.
As computer generated imagery gets more and more realistic, a very real question of ethics pops up. If we can de-age any actor or bring any actor back from the dead on screen, should we? Some fear that we might be headed towards a world where the physical appearance of the actor is owned by a company, which can use it beyond their lifespan. It honestly shoulds a bit dystopian so here’s hoping that this is just speculation.
That being said, it is pleasing to hear that they would not be messing with Fisher’s legacy using any cheap tricks. She brought a lot to the Star Wars franchise and was one of its three main pillars back in the original trilogy. She gave thousands of fans around the world someone to aspire to and someone to be inspired by.
She will be joined in the final movie of the so-called ‘sequel trilogy’ by Mark Hamill, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Daisy Ridley, Kelly Marie Tran, and Lupita Nyong’o. They will also be joined by returning actors from the history of the franchise, Anthony Daniels as C3PO and Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian!
We can’t wait to see how the last movie of the trilogy plays out! Will Rey become a proper Jedi Master? Will Kylo Ren become the next Sith Lord? Will we learn anything about Snoke?! Will Porgs come back? And most importantly, will Rey and Kylo finally address all that steamy sexual tension and kiss?!
Okay, that last one was a joke. But we’re really excited, nonetheless!
What about you, dear reader? Are you looking forward to the final chapter (for now) of this grand story from a galaxy far far away?
Header Image Source: YouTube
