Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be the last time we see Carrie Fisher on screen as Princess Leia Organa. Fisher’s tragic passing at the end of last year was met with heartbreak throughout the Star Wars community. After all, us fans had seen her character grow from an ambassador on a diplomatic mission to one of the key leaders in the Rebellion, and an essential part of taking down the Empire. The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson spoke with Entertainment Weekly and commented on Leia’s journey through the films of the franchise:

“Her character to some degree or another has been defined by loss through this whole saga, starting with the loss of her home planet. She’s just taken hit after hit, and she’s borne it, and she focuses on moving forward and the task at hand.”

Johnson’s words ring true. Leia lost her mother at birth, her father in Return of the Jedi, and in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, she loses her longtime friend and the father of her child, Han Solo. We of course cannot forget about the person who Leia probably felt closest to in all the galaxy, her twin brother Luke Skywalker, who went into exile after losing his nephew, Leia’s son Ben Solo, to the darkside. RELATED: Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Finn Wants Out Of The Resistance As far as her purpose in The Last Jedi, Leia remains in command of the Resistance. The Republic capital was destroyed in The Force Awakens, and now the fighting force that Leia is in charge of is estranged from the Republic, explains director Rian Johnson:

“They’re a small band that’s now cut off, on its own, and hunted when the Republic is shattered. When the First Order did that hit, the Resistance is isolated, and they’re very, very vulnerable. That’s where we pick them up.”

Johnson says before he began work on the script he met with Fisher to discuss where the film would take Leia: “She’s suffered quite a bit,” Johnson added. “While I was figuring out what her deal was going to be in this film, it’s one of the things I talked about with Carrie before I started writing: where the character would go.” Of course, one of the big questions have going into this is what kind of sendoff she’ll be getting. This is, after all, an iconic character — probably the single most iconic female character in film history. Our of respect for Fisher, they opted to write her out of Episode 9, but what does that mean for this one? Will she get the royal adieu she deserves?

“There’s no way that we could’ve known this would’ve been the last Star Wars movie she would be in, so it’s not like we made the film thinking that we were bringing closure to the character. But watching the film, there’s going to be a very emotional reaction to what she does in this movie.”

What are your thoughts on General Leia and her role in The Last Jedi, let us know in the comments down below!

Don’t forget to share this post on your Facebook wall and with your Twitter followers! Just hit the buttons on the top of this page.

SOURCE: Entertainment Weekly