ST Carrie Fisher (Leia Organa) in Episode IX

I'm thinking she's going to laser Kylo's face off and hang it on a wall.

 

If they can recreate Peter Cushing for a role in RO that didn't really carry the same importance as Carrie's role in IX obviously does, then to dismiss it offhand like KK did seems to be rash. If anything they can still dedicate the film to Carrie and in a massive way they would be paying the ultimate tribute by resurrecting her to the big screen.

 

I was completely against recasting Leia in the initial aftermath of Carrie's passing. I am now more open to it, possibly even the choice I'd like to see. If they went the CGI route (which they could do since they have reportedly been given permission by the family), I wouldn't really mind as Tarkin did not bother me in Rogue One; to be honest, I hadn't followed his character much (Cushing passed away around the same time I was born), and I didn't know he was a CGI recreation until afterwards when reading reviews. Only then did it become somewhat obvious to me.

In short, I would rather Leia's legacy end on-screen rather than off in the opening crawl. But, ultimately, LFL will decide whatever is the best sendoff, which I see as most likely be being written out off-screen at this point.

 

Leia is like 55 and is the leader of the Resistance/Rebellion, the only one other than Chewie and Nein Numb with any experience in such things.

I'm not getting why it makes any particular sense for her to randomly fade away. There would be no such suggestion if Carrie was alive, this is all rationalizing to cater to a bizarre sentiment hell bent on flushing the character and Carrie's legacy as it relates to it down the toilet.

Just to think of all the work she put in able to reprise Leia and to think that folks actively desire to hide her away like an unseemly spot on the carpet is sort of hateful to me.

 

I agree. My vote - which I believe is in the minority - would be to recast the character because the character is so important. I don't think it dishonors or is disrespectful to anyone. However, at this point I would be very surprised if they do that.

 

I don't think a recast would be any more jarring than old Fisher was, who looked and sounded so different to Leia in the OT to the point of unrecognizability in my opinion.

And given that the original plan was for 9 to have more Leia, that Ben couldn't kill Leia, and that TLJ ends with Luke assuring Leia that Ben isn't gone, I think Leia was going to be the one that tries to save Ben in 9.

At the same time they can always adjust the story. And it seems like they have, given JJ's recent pitch. She already got a pretty good conclusion in TLJ too.

But whatever makes for the best story is the path they should take.

 

I don't think a recast is likely based on TLJ, because it appears Disney/LFL are closing the book on the Skywalker Saga at Episode 9 and moving on to other non-skywalker movies. If they were planning a 10-12, I'd say a recast is possible...

But I think in the opening sequence of 9, Leia is seen briefly (using edited/cut footage from TLJ) aboard a ship on a dangerous mission, and similar to A New Hope, they've just gotten some crucial information/plans that can harm the FO and transmitted them to Poe and the Resistance, maybe they even cobble together a line or two for Leia, then the ship gets hit by the FO. Blown up. No survivors but the information was transmitted. A tragic success.

Hux has ordered the hit on Leia's ship behind Kylo's back, believing Kylo doesn't have the stomach to do it.

Later, Kylo kills Hux for this.

When Luke appears to Rey as a Ghost, they briefly discuss Leia becoming one with the Force and being at peace among other things like Kylo.

Finally, Leia is seen as a ghost at the very end standing next to Luke.

So two brief appearances using old footage and a couple of mentions in between. Probably by Luke and Poe.

 

Maybe they can finally cast Terri Nunn.

 

I just hope there's no funeral scene. Start off with the characters staring sadly at her hologram or a statue or something. But I'd have a hard time seeing Leia's coffin or pyre, knowing it's because the actress died for real.

 

TLJ, by being such a love letter to Leia, set up an unexpected conundrum.

After the Force literally saved her from death, what can top that moment? Who wants to see Leia die onscreen after coming so close, and yet watching her miraculously survive.

If IX is set years after TLJ then it'll make it much easier to either have her pass between films, or written to be offscreen. They could even have Claudia Gray write a very well publicized novel that covers Leia's final adventure, and her death.

I'm more open to a recast than I ever thought possible, but I don't think Lucasfilm will go there.

Perhaps they could recast and use light CGI or prosthetics to make the actor look just a bit more like Leia? Not a replication, but a reminder. See Joseph Gordon Levitt in Looper as an example. So much can be done with make-up, CGI and prosthetics that an actor could be given free agency to do Leia, but get close enough in appearance to not bee too jarring.

I had no problem recognizing Leia in TFA or TLJ, especially the latter, where she looks exactly as I imagined Leia would look 30+ years after ROTJ.

I haven't talked to a single person in the real world who had any trouble recognizing Leia.

It might be shocking to you, people don't stay looking 25 forever. Women pushing 60 tend to change a lot.

 

Um, not sure what you’re talking about here. If anything she would be in a greater position of power, a Jedi or Jedi Master helping with the training of the next generation . She led the Rebellion, helped build the New Republic, created and led the Resistance, became a wide and a mother. Now she would spend the last third of her life restarting the Jedi Order and cradling the hope of the galaxy in her very hands. If anything this approach would enhance her legend, not sweep it under the rug.

 

Leia was exactly the same in TLJ and TFA. I could even see her younger self in her eyes at times. Carrie/Leia had that twinkle in her eye where you could see that fire burning. A fierceness.

If Disney does go death, I would accept a quiet passing/becoming one with the force during the interim but not until the rebellion is rebuilt and her work is done.

And Claudia gray would give older Leia the kickass adventure novel she deserves. And would write an emotionally riveting send off for her and confrontation with kylo Ren. Claudia gray gets Leia. Hell -- I'd love for that story to be written by gray and Rian Johnson. One can dream.

The Leia situation is going to have me on the edge of my seat until spoilers start to emerge. Because of Leia is alive and they pull a performance out of unused footage and cgi and a bit/touch of recast/stand in -- I'll be over the moon at Leia being able to fulfill her character arc.

 

I'm going to surprise myself. I'm going into IX unspoiled, so hopefully I won't know what happens until I'm sitting in the theater.

One of the worst mistakes I made was sticking around here 3 days too long and finding out way too much before I went into TLJ.

If Leia is in the film at all, I'll be floored.

 

That's why I left on Demember 7th, the night before the premiere, I was pleasantly surprised about so much. It was wonderful.

 

They did such an extraordinary job keeping the spoilers at bay that I got too comfortable. And I too was leaving around the same time you did, but got sucked back in. I followed this film closer than I ever have with any film, which was a mistake in the end.

 

I would say that JJ and LFL must have an idea because otherwise why not play around with TLJ to accommodate Carrie dying. They had 10 months to sort it and do some reshooting/editing or something.

 

Because they ignored George.

 

Do you have a link to some evidence showing George intended to make Leia a Jedi in the ST?

 

Killing Leia off after shooting was finished would've been far more difficult than most people seem to realize.

You'd be left with Luke and Leia dying in the same film, you'd disrupt the thematic thrust of Leia leading the First Resistance as it's core hope and spark, you'd have to throw away the Luke/Leia reunion, and worst of all, you'd have to cut a lot of Carrie's final, wonderful performance as Leia.

And what about the reactions to such a major character's passing? That's not just mere reshooting, that's basically redoing half the film. Costly, detrimental to RJ's vision, and the film couldn't have made it out on time.

It was a much better choice to maintain the integrity of RJ's film and deal with her passing later.

 

If they have to recast Leia it's gotta be Daphne Zuniga.

 

Yeah fair point. I expect there was a way but they considered it too difficult to achieve. Would have been more neat from a story telling POV but sadly we are where we are now.

Related to that it still seems an odd choice to me to have Han die in VII and Luke in VIII and clearly Leia in IX. Obviously RJ wanted to subvert expectations but would have seemed better (to me) if Leia and Luke were swapped in terms of meeting their fate.

Also odd message regarding Kylo. He was able to kill his Dad but couldn't kill his Mum?

 

I like Daphne, but I'm thinking more along the lines of Dianne Wiest.

Phenomenal actor. And while much older than Carrie and Leia, she doesn't look it:

 

Luke only "needed" to survive Episode VIII because a lot of people assumed he was Rey's father, and thus they would've explored their relationship, and maybe searched for her mother, in IX. Or that Luke would be the one to rebuild the Jedi Order.

When that didn't happen? Why would Luke need to be around? He has no interest in rebuilding the Order and he has no child. Sure they could've come up with material, and they likely will with him probably being in IX, but what sense does it make to kill Leia and keep Luke?

She is the one who the writers chose to continue the Skywalker bloodline through. She was the one who still had missions to lead, a Resistance to manage. We still hadn't gotten her long awaited confrontation with Kylo, which was likely going to be one of the major climaxes of the entire trilogy.

And Leia might never have been killed off. This trilogy could've easily ended with Leia becoming the leader of the Republic, a role that wouldn't, couldn't, be filled by any new, young character.

The "danger" to Han and Luke was that younger characters were being built up to replace them. Nobody was being built to replace Leia. She was passing her military baton on to him, but not her political one. Which would've left reason for Leia to survive the trilogy.

And, frankly, still might.

 

Nice points well made. Certainly makes sense and it is a real shame Carrie dying means they couldn't go down this route.

Personally I would have preferred it to be Luke seeing it through to the end. That is just my personal preference and no more valid than any other. I have always seen Luke as the main character and Leia as the lead supporting character along with Han. Not sure if anyone has ever made a note of the actual screen time each character got in the OT but it always felt like Luke's story more than Leia's story.

Then again I never thought Rey was a Skywalker anyway. Too obvious and begs too many questions about her being dumped on Jakku.

Have to confess I loved the fan theory about Rey being a Palpatine but hey ho we get Rey Random.

 

That's because Luke was factually the leading protagonist of the OT.

The difference is that neither Luke nor Leia are the lead protagonists of the ST. So the preference that Luke had in the OT wasn't going to be translated over to the ST. He was afforded his spotlight film, just as Han was before him, and Leia would've in IX. It's a testament to RJ's love and respect for Carrie, and Leia, that he ended up giving her so much in TLJ. If he'd taken the JJ approach we'd have truly missed out on something special now that Carrie has passed on.

I know that many diehard fans prefer Luke to Leia. That's not an issue for me at all, we all like what we like. But based strictly off the narrative told in the ST, killing off Leia before Luke just wouldn't make any sense.

Palps is one of my favorite fictional characters. I would've gotten down with Rey Palps. But it was never, ever going to happen so I never took that possibility seriously.