In December of 2016, the great Carrie Fisher left us far too soon, but there was an overriding feeling that her memory, one that’s deeply entwined with Lucasfilm’s Star Wars franchise, would live on forever.
We got a small taste of Fisher’s posthumous legacy after The Last Jedi, though the fact that Rian Johnson chose to spare General Leia Organa leaves the onus on J.J. Abrams and his team to deliver a fitting send-off for Carrie Fisher – in the Star Wars universe, at least – during the course of Episode IX.
And at least in the eyes of the actress’ brother, Todd Fisher, there’s no reason why Leia can’t enjoy a significant role in Star Wars: Episode IX, as the previous installment in Lucasfilm’s franchise – Solo notwithstanding – brought back a familiar face in Yoda. And let’s not forget that Rogue One de-aged the Hollywood legend for its finale.
Per Variety:
Yoda came back in the last movie, so why not Carrie? In the first film, Obi-Wan says that if he dies, he’ll come back stronger than ever. I feel like that’s Carrie. She’ll never disappear entirely.
Granted, a CGI-enabled resurrection has since been ruled out, though the fact that Todd Fisher is unaware of Lucasfilm’s strategy only raises more questions about Leia’s involvement in Episode IX.
Last we checked, the Resistance general was still mourning the deaths of Luke and Han Solo, and there have been rumblings that Carrie Fisher’s fan-favorite will succumb to solar radiation and hypoxia – that is, an oxygen deficiency in the muscles – come 2019, symptoms one would associate with an unscheduled spacewalk.
The jury’s still out on that one, but with production expected to commence imminently ahead of its release in December of next year, it won’t be too much longer before we find out more about Star Wars: Episode IX and its many secrets.