Star Wars 9 Promises to Close Leia's Story

Star Wars: Episode IX will give Leia the proper send-off that she deserves, Mark Hamill shares. Over the last several months, it would be an understatement to say that upcoming trilogy capper has gone through several setbacks, including changes in some key behind-the-scenes personnel that led to its release date pushed a few months back. However, Carrie Fisher's untimely death at the end of last year was the biggest factor that threw the production off its course.

It is no secret that General Organa was supposed to have a more prominent role in Episode IX. In fact, Fisher herself was very vocal about wanting to have more of the narrative spotlight on her after Star Wars: The Force Awakens lent itself to Han Solo's return and eventual end, while the upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi is geared towards Luke Skywalker's personal arc. And while fans are led to believe that it will be the case, Fisher's passing prevents that from happening. Still, Hamill remains confident that folks at LucasFilm will be able to come up with a send-off that is fit for the beloved princess-turned-general.

During a fan event at New York Comic Con over the weekend, which USA Today covered, Hamill briefly talked about Fisher's role in The Last Jedi and also assured fans that his on-screen sibling will get her story wrapped-up in a way that is both satisfying and heartwarming in Episode IX:

“You’re going to really love her in [The Last Jedi]. I know they’re going to try and find a way to close her story in [Episode IX] that gives her the respect she deserves, because [Han Solo] was more prominent in [The Force Awakens], Luke’s a little more prominent in [The Last Jedi], and certainly Leia was meant to be more prominent in [Episode IX]. Worldwide, everyone feels that gap she left, but we all have to hang in there.”

Before Fisher's death, she was able to complete her work for The Last Jedi and depending on how she is set-up for Episode IX, that is probably where LucasFilm will do some tweaks from the original planned story. Right now, how that will pan out seems to be a little bit too difficult to predict given that we do not know yet what will happen in the upcoming Rian Johnson-written and directed installment, but once we find out how things go down in the new sequel, we may have an inkling as to what will happen. If anything, the newly released trailer for the movie seems to tease Kylo Ren launching an assault on the Resistance even though it could hurt his mother.

J.J. Abrams, who has been tapped to direct and write Star Wars: Episode IX has his work cut for him as not only does he need to close out this sequel trilogy (which he also started), he also needs to find a way to effectively wrap-up the story of one of the most beloved and iconic characters in the franchise. Many fans were not too thrilled with the way Han met his end in The Force Awakens as some thought it was not as emotional as it ought to have been. With Abrams tackling another possible Legacy character death makes the situation more tricky than it already was.