To mark the two-year anniversary of Carrie Fisher’s passing, social media has seen a continuing stream of tributes to the Star Wars actress, but perhaps the most poignant of them all comes from the actress’ own daughter Billie Lourd.
In a video posted to Instagram, the star shared a video of herself performing a rather lovely rendition of Jackson Browne’s “These Days.”
Lourd’s post came with a message in which she reflects on this difficult time of the year and explains why she chose to mark the anniversary with a song:
“It has been two years since my Momby’s death and I still don’t know what the ‘right’ thing to do on a death anniversary is (I’m sure a lot of you feel the same way about your loved ones). So I decided to do something a little vulnerable for me, but something we both loved to do together – sing. This is the piano her father gave her and this was one of her favorite songs. And as the song says, we must ‘keep on moving’.
“I’ve found that what keeps me moving is doing things that make me happy, working hard on the things that I’m passionate about and surrounding myself with people I love and making them smile. I hope this encourages anyone feeling a little low or lost to ‘keep on moving’. As my Momby once said, ‘take your broken heart and turn it into art’ – whatever that art may be for you.”
A regular of the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy herself, Lourd performed opposite her mother in 2017’s The Last Jedi and gave her approval for the character of Leia Organa to be brought back in Star Wars: Episode IX by way of unused footage from Leia’s last two screen outings.
Though cast members like Oscar Isaac have expressed a tinge of sadness at returning to the set without Fisher, Lourd has gone on record sharing her optimism towards the project, claiming that J.J. Abrams’ next film “is going to be magical.” As for Leia’s role, little has been revealed about how the footage of Carrie Fisher will factor into the upcoming release, but Oscar Isaac has offered his assurance that the movie deals with her absence “in a really beautiful way.”
Star Wars: Episode IX is due for release on December 20th, 2019, and will likely prove a bittersweet experience for fans, but here’s hoping Abrams can give Leia a finale that does justice to both the character and the woman who brought her to our screens for all these years.