Carrie Fisher’s unexpected death has not just left Star Wars fans heartbroken – it may thrust the Disney film studio into a dilemma over the fate of her iconic character Princess Leia as it moves forward with the film franchise.
Fisher, 60, enjoyed a new round of fame when Princess Leia, Harrison Ford’s Han Solo and Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker were reunited on screen for 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which sold more than $2bn in tickets at the global box office.
Fisher had finished filming for the 2017 release of Star Wars: Episode VIII, Disney said. Plot details have remained a closely guarded secret.
Fisher was also expected to play a key role in the ninth instalment of the sci-fi saga, due for release in 2019.
A Disney spokeswoman on Tuesday declined to comment on whether Leia would appear in films beyond Episode VIII.
Star Wars director Colin Trevorrow had said in a January 2016 interview that he was excited “to find new places that we can take” the characters of Princess Leia and her on-screen twin brother Luke Skywalker.
“They are icons but they’re also people that have suffered tremendous loss and challenge over the course of all these films,” Trevorrow told celebrity news outlet Entertainment Tonight.
Amid grieving over Fisher’s death, Star Wars fans have speculated on how the battle between good and evil in the Galactic Empire could continue without Fisher playing Leia, a fearless Rebel Alliance fighter who in The Force Awakens had become a general.
Leia appears briefly in the standalone movie now in theatres, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, as a digital recreation of the young princess. The late British actor Peter Cushing, who died in 1994, is also brought back to life as Death Star commander Grand Moff Tarkin for Rogue One using computer generated imagery (CGI).
Under a 1985 California law filmmakers must get permission from the estate of a celebrity to use his or her image for up to 70 years after death.
Other possibilities include redrafting the plot of Episode IX, reshooting scenes from Episode VIII, or casting someone else, as the makers of Harry Potter did when Richard Harris, who played headmaster Albus Dumbledore, died after filming the first two movies.
Some fans have suggested that singer Stevie Nicks could play Leia in future movies. But others said the character should be given a glorious screen death.
“I swear they better find a way to write Princess Leia out of the movies, cause if they try and recast there will be hell to pay,” a fan identified as Kaitlin tweeted.
