President of Lucasfilm Kathleen Kennedy has revealed that Star Wars: Episode IX was originally going to feature a Leia-centric plot with Carrie Fisher.
After her untimely passing last December, Lucasfilm held a meeting in January to plan out how the franchise’s beloved Princess would fit into future chapters of the Skywalker saga.
While Star Wars: The Last Jedi remains unaffected by the loss of Fisher and will feature the glue that held the Rebellion together in a more prominent role than she had in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Kennedy confirmed in the latest issue of Vanity Fair that Episode IX was originally going to be Fisher’s film:
“She was having a blast. The minute she finished, she grabbed me and said, ‘I’d better be at the forefront of IX!’ Because Harrison was front and center on VII, and Mark is front and center on VIII. She thought IX would be her movie. And it would have been.”
The latest draft for the final episode of the sequel trilogy written by Jurassic World writers Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly was delivered in April. Plot details are still under wraps but it was previously confirmed that (spoiler alert) two key scenes planned for the Episode VIII and Episode IX included a reunion between Princess Leia and her brother, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), and a confrontation between Leia and her son, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), over the murder of his father, Han Solo (Harrison Ford).
Star Wars: Episode IX is slated for release on May 24, 2019. Stay tuned to Heroic Hollywood for the latest news on the future of the Star Wars franchise as we learn it.
Source: Vanity Fair
