The Force Awakens teased a larger role for Carrie Fisher in the later installments, which now has to be abbreviated due to the actress’ untimely death. Mark Hamill confirmed as much regarding her character’s intended arc at New York Comic Con last night:
As the next chapter in the Star Wars saga draws closer (accompanied by directorial shakeups over at Lucasfilm), I can’t shake a sense of dour curiosity about how these films would have played out if Fisher hadn’t passed away. J. J. Abrams and company handled the return of Han Solo admirably, shepherding the character to a long-awaited conclusion after his arc essentially wrapped up in The Empire Strikes Back , but Leia’s story always felt incomplete to me. Even within the frame of the original trilogy, the execution of the whole “galactic princess turned rebel commander” concept failed to live up to its premise, saying nothing of the desultory tease that Leia is a force user.
“I know they’re going to try and find a way to close her story in Episode 9 that gives her the respect she deserves because Han Solo was more prominent in Episode 7 . Luke’s a little prominent in Episode 8 and Leia was meant to be more prominent in Episode 9, ” Hamill told audiences at NYCC.
I’m sure the scrupulous team helmed by Kathleen Kennedy have found a way to salvage an honorable send off for Fisher, but the prospect of a trilogy that oscillates focus between the three returning leads is going to be a difficult one to cast out of my mind, regardless of how compelling Plan B ends up being.
The only pressing concern I have about whatever route the filmmakers decide upon for Leia, wouldn’t have occurred to me had it not been for 2016’s Rogue One, a film I have found a way to clobber in the year following its release at every opportunity. The CGI Peter Cushing cameo, alongside the CGI Leia hearkens back to a funny anecdote Fisher used to tell about the rights to her likeness.
Addressing George Lucas as he received his AFI Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005, Fisher said: “The fact that you made me into a little doll that my first husband could stick pins into, a shampoo bottle where people could twist my head off and pour liquid out of my neck… and yes the little Pez dispenser, so that my daughter Billie could pull my head back and pull a wafer out of my neck every time she didn’t want to do her homework, I suppose I don't mind. And though amongst your many possessions you have owned my likeness, lo all these years, so that every time I look in the mirror, I have to send you a check for a couple of bucks.”
Though clearly intended to be both humorous and affectionate, there is this idea that the price of admission to the hearts of millions of fans worldwide is eternal resignation of self. Early this year, Screen Rant reported Ivan Reitman was toying with the idea of implementing a CGI version of Harold Ramis to appear in an upcoming Ghostbusters sequel, a almost certainly terrible movie the dead actor has no way of signing off on. Beyond the ethical implications, that kind of desperation to please fans against all odds undermines the life and legacy of the people behind the characters. Hamill’s words on the subject repudiates a lot of my fears concerning this, but I’ll just have to wait and see.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi hits theatres on Dec.15.
