The news that Star Wars: Episode IX will indeed feature an appearance by Carrie Fisher took the internet by surprise. Most had assumed that her untimely death, in combination with the fact that digitally recreating her would feel tasteless, meant that her character would die in the narrative gap between movies. Authoritative sources even claimed that it was a dead cert that Episode IX would commence with her funeral.
So, J.J. Abrams’ announcement that they were going to use unused footage from The Force Awakens to bring back the character for the film raised a few eyebrows. Thankfully, then, the news came with the caveat that her daughter, Billie had approved and now, her brother Todd Fisher has joined that chorus, saying:
“As we, her family, as well as her extended family of fans around the world so believe, Carrie’s ‘Princess Leia is forever entrenched in the franchise and her indelible presence is fundamental to the film. J.J. Abrams understood Carrie’s iconic role, and he has masterfully re-crafted this final entry to include this unused and very last footage of Carrie ever taken, without resorting to CGI or animatronics. Our family and her fans will look forward with great anticipation for this one! Her force will forever be with us!”
Knowing that her family consider this respectful and considerate makes the proposal go down a lot easier, and judging by Todd Fisher’s reaction they seem to have screened some test footage of what they have in mind for Carrie’s Episode IX appearance to them. Still, I’m a little skeptical that they’re going to manage this without resorting to CGI at all, even if it’s just to put her against a new background, in a new costume or slightly alter her dialogue to fit with what’s going on in the scene. But I think we can all be grateful that they’ve ruled out a monstrously awful sounding Carrie Fisher animatronic.
Whatever ends up happening, it’s going to be extremely interesting to see how well this works. The first thing it made me think of was this clip from The Simpsons and I’m hoping that going into the film with prior knowledge won’t make her return feel jarring or overly artificial. If this works out, though – and from the sounds of it, they’re pretty confident that it will – I’m glad that Fisher’s character will get just a little bit more time on screen in Star Wars: Episode IX.