Late last year, we received the heartbreaking news that Carrie Fisher had passed away following a heart attack on a plane. It hit the geek community hard. This was a woman whose face had been at the forefront of pop culture for as long as we could remember, and to those who knew her personally knew her as a smart, funny, talented person who would be dearly missed.
As time passed, however, fans began to wonder how this would reverberate throughout the Star Wars films. After all, Fisher played a small role in The Force Awakens, and seemed destined to have an increasingly important role as time went on. How would her passing affect the story going forward? Would they need to rewrite the story to accommodate her not being around? That was my greatest personal fear, but until recently, it wasn’t clear HOW much would need to get changed.
Speaking with Vanity Fair, LucasFilm head Kathleen Kennedy spoke on that subject:
“She was having a blast, the minute she finished, she grabbed me and said. ‘I’d better be at the forefront of IX!’ Because Harrison was front and center on VII, and Mark is front and center on VIII. She thought IX would be her movie. and it would have been.”
This definitely adds an extra dose of bitterness to the equation. With each film, it seems like they were finally giving audiences some real closure to these characters — especially in light of the fact that the franchise will be going on indefinitely. The last thing we’d want is for them to sort of fade into obscurity.
Of course, this new statement from Kennedy has us wondering just how much had to change. Clearly there was a lot thatneeded to change, but will it be an instance of just swapping out her character for someone else? And how do they plan on sending her off? There are countless questions we have, but at this moment, all we can do is have faith that they’ll do so in a respectable and satisfying way. Ever since they relaunched this franchise, they’ve given us very little reason to doubt.
What do you think of this latest news? Should they have allowed them to recast Fisher, or was it the right move to rewrite Episode IX in light of her passing? Let us know your thoughts down below!
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SOURCE: Vanity Fair
