The repercussions of the death of Carrie Fisher for the Star Wars franchise are to be discussed by key Disney staff in Los Angeles. Fisher, who died on December 27, had completed scenes on Star Wars: Episode VIII, which is set for release in December — including, apparently, reunions with Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker and her son, Kylo Ren, played by Adam Driver.
But the character will reportedly play an even larger part in the following film, which is scheduled to shoot early in 2018 before release at Christmas 2019. This supposition would tally with the $50 million insurance payout that Disney will collect following Fisher’s death.
The Hollywood Reporter paraphrases insiders who says Episode IX’s writer/director, Colin Trevorrow, is to meet with executive producer Kathleen Kennedy to see what adjustments to the script are required. This may in turn mean reshoots on director Rian Johnson’s Episode XIII, to adjust its conclusion.
The studio is said to be less wary of the risks of extensive post-production adjustments following the healthy reception for Rogue One, of which up to a reported 40 per cent was reshot. Another key element of that film — the CGI resurrection of Peter Cushing’s character and, in a final scene, Fisher’s — may also play a part in papering over the plot.
But both the ethics and logistics of such a move are said to be capping the extent of CGI that Disney would tolerate: incidental moments are thought to be acceptable, but having a computer-generated version of Fisher simply speak the lines designed for her in Episode IX is thought to be unlikely.
Fisher and her mother, Debbie Reynolds, were buried in a private, joint service in Los Angeles on January 6. Earlier this week, a petition was launched on Change.org to lobby Disney to make Leia an “official” Disney princess. It so far has more than 53,000 signatures.
