Star Wars 9's Casting Isn't Correcting The Last Jedi

While Star Wars: The Last Jedi wanted to let the past die, the cast announcement for Star Wars 9 seems to be bringing back the old guard — including Carrie Fisher, who passed away in 2016, and Mark Hamill, whose character died in the previous movie. However, audiences shouldn't expect the story to undo Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Rian Johnson's Star Wars 8 received mixed responses, even prompting a petition to have the film remade and a boycott of the next Star Wars film, Solo: A Star Wars Story. While the petition and the boycott represent a small faction of the Star Wars fanbase — it's likely that the boycott did not significantly affect Solo's performance at the box office — The Last Jedi is still perceived as a more divisive film than previous Disney-Lucasfilm productions like Star Wars: The Force Awakens or Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Will Star Wars 9 turn opinion around? Either way, the story it's set to tell isn't a case of aggressive course correction or bowing to fan demands; it seems that the final chapter of the sequel trilogy always planned to include these original characters, with no collapse in the discourse changing J.J. Abrams' plan.

This Page: Who Is Returning — And How?
Page 2: The Last Jedi Backlash Hasn't Changed Episode IX

Who Is Returning — And How?

Three major characters from the original trilogy will return in Star Wars 9: Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker, and Lando Calrissian. Fans have waited for Billy Dee Williams, who played Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, to reprise his role in the sequel trilogy. As such, his appearance in Episode IX felt inevitable, especially given the limited roles that other original trilogy characters would play. The other two returners for Episode IX, though, are surprising for markedly different reasons.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi left Leia a key part of the continuing story, but the untimely death of Carrie Fisher called into question whether or not the character could return and in what capacity. Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher's 1977 likeness were recreated using CGI for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but the technology generated mixed responses, and the suggestion of recasting Leia was not one fans gravitated towards, no matter how talented the replacement. In the end, Leia will appear in Star Wars 9 still played by Carrie Fisher through the incorporation of previously unused footage from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This solution, which Fisher's brother credits to director J.J. Abrams, will maintain Leia's presence in the film while creating some closure for the character. The size of her role in the film, however, will likely be limited.

Also back is Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, despite his death at the end of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. However, Luke Skywalker's inclusion in the film doesn't mean that Abrams intends to bring the Jedi Master back from the dead; Star Wars has brought many Jedi Masters back as Force Ghosts, and some Star Wars films, like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, also include flashback sequences.

While both of these are surprising to varying degrees, both fit within the logic of the franchise as it exists regardless of any dissent from portions of the fanbase. Hamill as a Force Ghost fits with his journey in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Leia was always intended to be a part of Star Wars 9 - they just needed the right route after tragedy struck.

Page 2: The Last Jedi Backlash Hasn't Changed Episode IX

The Last Jedi Backlash Hasn't Changed Episode IX

Star Wars: The Last Jedi was praised by some for being adventurous but received a mixed reaction from segments of the audience and parts of the Star Wars fanbase. Extreme negative responses in particular garnered attention, including a petition asking Lucasfilm to strike The Last Jedi from Star Wars canon and the online harassment of actress Kelly Marie Tran, who plays Rose Tico (and is also back for Star Wars 9); sexist and racist comments from trolls prompted Tran to delete her social media accounts.

Some have speculated that Lucasfilm's approach to Star Wars 9 has been shaped by the negative fan reactions to Star Wars: The Last Jedi. J.J. Abrams returning to the director's chair for Episode IX could signal Lucasfilm's desire to put The Last Jedi behind them and reunite the fanbase as he did previously with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, while the return of older characters is obviously a very fan-pleasing move.

However, everything that J.J. Abrams has said about Star Wars 9 tells another story entirely. Certainly, Disney and Lucasfilm are not trying to erase the events of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Abrams was onboard with Rian Johnson's vision for The Last Jedi, and he developed the ideas for Episode IX in response to seeing the film. Because he pitched his story for the final film directly after seeing Episode VIII and before the release, he couldn't have been influenced by any of the backlash that followed. To this end, Abrams has since publicly stated that the negative reactions to The Last Jedi have not changed his plans for Star Wars 9 in the slightest and thanked Johnson at the start of filming.

That's not to say there haven't been changes along the way from the trilogy's original vague design, but they're a result of other factors. Indeed, originally, Leia was going to be at "the forefront" of Star Wars 9, but Abrams joined the film long after Fisher's death, so the plot of his Star Wars 9 was written knowing both that she couldn't have major involvement and what archive footage was available.

Abrams' Star Wars 9 will hopefully blend the best elements of Star Wars: The Force Awakens with Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The sequel trilogy was always meant to be about passing the torch to the next generation of Star Wars characters and Star Wars fans. The inclusion of Luke, Leia, and Lando does not diminish the story that J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson have told together. Instead, it fits within the intended arch of the sequel trilogy.