Recent days have been nothing if not dark for Star Wars fans all over the world. Carrie Fisher's passing struck a severe nerve with proud geeks everywhere, and we've only just begun to see the implications of this tragedy. As we continue to mourn this silver screen legend, new details continue to come out that only make us sadder about the future of the saga. In fact, before her death, Fisher was slated to have two awesome scenes with Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) in Episode VIII and Episode IX.
According to a report from THR, Carrie Fisher was originally supposed to have some seriously important moments in Episode VIII and Episode IX before her recent passing. In particular, Leia was slated to have a reunion with Luke Skywalker, as well as a face off against Kylo Ren. However, her tragic passing has thrown a wrench into the works -- forcing Disney and Lucasfilm to go back to the drawing board. Just think about it, you know Leia would've kicked Kylo Ren's ass over what he did to Han Solo; it doesn't matter that he's her son.
As of right now there doesn't appear to be a concrete plan in place for dealing with Fisher's death, but there's still time to figure to the logistics. Both Disney and Lucasfilm are playing coy regarding how these specific scenes fit into the overall narrative, so there's no way of knowing how her death will change the plans. Current reports seem to suggest that the iconic actress had already finished her work on Episode VIII prior to passing away, which means that the Star Wars franchise may not have to completely cope with her death until production begins on Episode IX. That leads us to believe that she may at least see Luke again by the time Episode VIII debuts. Looking to the future, the two clearest paths seem to be: write her out of the Star Wars universe or use CGI (like Rogue One did for Tarkin and 19-year-old Leia) to keep her around in some capacity.
That said, using CGI to resurrect Carrie Fisher comes with a ton of technical and ethical implications. For starters, the effects necessary to bring a character back to life (such as Grand Moff Tarkin) are available, but they have not progressed to the point in which a character like Leia can take on a primary role in a Star Wars movie. If future Star Wars films use CGI to recreate Carrie Fisher, we can pretty much guarantee that her role will be diminished. Beyond that, filmmakers now have to contend with the moral question of whether or not they should recreate Leia. Using CGI to keep Paul Walker in Furious 7 was an extenuating circumstance because the actor had already filmed much of his role in the project, but using CGI to bring Carrie Fisher into movies she never actually filmed might not sit well with fans.
With everything that has occurred over the course of the last week, the only thing we can agree on is the fact Carrie Fisher's untimely passing will certainly reverberate through the Star Wars series over the course of the next few years. We will bring you more information regarding this matter as new updates become available to us. Star Wars Episode VIII will hit theaters on December 15 of this year.
