When Carrie Fisher passed away last December, she left an incredible legacy.
Her best-known character, Princess Leia, resonated with millions of Star Wars fans, and the tributes quickly poured in from around the world.
Online, fans came together in the video game Star Wars: The Old Republic for a digital vigil. In real life, Star Wars devotees gathered in Disneyland’s Downtown Disney District to hold up lightsabers in remembrance of their icon. Not to mention, New Orleans organized a parade in Fisher’s honor (led by dozens of women and girls in Princess Leia costumes).
Following the numerous tributes to the late actress, an uncomfortable question remained: How would the crew of the upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi address Fisher’s death?
After all, Fisher played a significant role in 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Would writers attempt to ignore the loss of one of the franchise’s most popular characters?
Not quite, according to one of Fisher’s The Last Jedi co-stars (this would be a good time to note that this article contains minor spoilers in the next few paragraphs). John Boyega, who will play Finn in the eighth episodic Star Wars film, told film critic Peter Travers that Fisher will receive a big sendoff.
“[Carrie Fisher] and I have many scenes in this one,” Boyega told Travers on Popcorn with Peter Travers. “We really enjoyed each other’s company. I was in Nigeria when we found out [about Fisher’s passing]. It was a strange, strange feeling.”
“I felt like everyone in the cast went silent for a bit after that,” he added. “…This movie, it sends her off in an amazing, amazing way.”
“And she is kept alive in this franchise,” he added. “That’s the beauty of it: She lives forever, in a sense.”
In a way, this makes sense (provided that Boyega was directly addressing Leia’s fate). After all, in The Force Awakens, Leia’s husband, Han Solo, dies at the hands of their son. The loss of a second major character would be a pretty massive plot twist to shove into the script of the upcoming movie in post production.
However, Boyega’s quote also seems to indicate that Leia will not appear onscreen in any capacity after “The Last Jedi.”
That seems appropriate since CGI representations of late actors can seem a little strange to audiences (fans who saw Rogue One understand). That said, we’re still curious as to how future films will explain Leia’s absence. Maybe she’ll be on an extended diplomatic mission to…well, not Alderaan, but some other planet.
In any case, fans worried about losing Princess Leia for
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is scheduled for release in theaters across the United States on Dec. 15, 2017, and we can’t wait. In the meantime, check out this unbelievable (and heartbreaking) tribute to Fisher, first screened at 2017’s Star Wars Celebration convention.
