In case you missed it, yesterday was Star Wars Day, and the entire world got in on the celebration. Though it was a joyous occasion for self-respecting Star Wars geeks around the globe, it was also a time to look back and remember members of the Star Wars family who have left us in recent years. Specifically, Billie Lourd took to social media and shared a photo with her mother, the late Carrie Fisher, on the set of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and it was absolutely heartwarming. Check out the photo, below.
In all honesty, that pretty much captures everything that fans have come to know and love about Carrie Fisher's public persona. Brash, fun, and downright quirky, the Princess/General Leia actress became as widely beloved for her off-screen antics as she was for her portrayal of the legendary Star Wars heroine. That picture seems to show Billie Lourd and Carrie Fisher messing around between takes on the set of Rian Johnson's Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and it definitively serves as a firm reminder that we lost a valued member of the Star Wars family when Fisher passed away in 2016.
Of course, there's another element of Carrie Fisher's legacy that isn't necessarily addressed by that Instagram post. The Star Wars _franchise is generally moving in a new direction that will hand over the hero responsibilities to a younger regeneration of character, but the saga is doing it in a slow and steady fashion. The Force Awakens phased out Han Solo, and _The Last Jedi phased out Luke Skywalker, but Leia is still part of the overarching story of this current trilogy. At this stage, we still have no idea what the Star Wars franchise will do to work around the untimely loss of Ms. Fisher (whether that may involve writing her out of the story, recasting her, or digitally replacing her), but it looks like that's one of those sad-but-important conversations that will need to take place over the course of the next year.
Of course, for now, the focus has shifted away from Leia and moved to the love of her life. The next project on the Star Wars docket is Ron Howard's Solo: A Star Wars Story, which will take audiences back in time to flesh out the earlier years of the smuggler's life.
For all of you Star Wars fans out there who are looking ahead to the future of the franchise, make sure to keep an eye out for all of CinemaBlend's in-depth coverage of Solo: A Star Wars Story as we close in on the film's May 25 release date. Beyond that, the main Star Wars saga will continue next year when J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: Episode IX premieres on December 20, 2019.
