Carrie Fisher's Daughter Played Young Leia in The Rise of Skywalker Flashback Scene

In order to bring back Carrie Fisher's General Leia one last time, The Rise of Skywalker director utilized unused footage from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In addition, dailies from Return of the Jedi were also used to make that epic flashback scene in the film, but a familiar face also stood in to portray the iconic character.

Speaking with Yahoo! Entertainment, ILM Visual Effects Supervisor Patrick Tubach revealed that Fisher's daughter, Billie Lourd, performed Young Leia's flashback scene in the movie. "Billie was playing her mother," Tubach said. Lourd plays the role of Resistance lieutenant Kaydel Ko Connix, but director J.J. Abrams kept the part in the family, hence, asking Fisher's daughter. "It was a poignant thing, and something that nobody took lightly — that she was willing to stand in for her mom," he added.

Tubach said it was "an emotional thing for everybody" to see Lourd be in that position, but it felt great for them too. "If you're going to have someone play [Fisher's] part, it's great that it's [Billie] because there are a lot of similarities between them that we were able to draw from," Tubach explained. However, he admitted that the "real challenge" was making the footage they had of Leia to work with, to fit in with that flashback scene.

Tubach also mentioned that Mark Hamill plated the young Luke in that scene. Of course, in order to achieve his youthful appearance in the original trilogy, the studio used de-aging technology.

What are your thoughts on Lourd playing the young Leia in Episode IX? Tell us in the comments below!

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is now showing.

Also Read: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Visual Effects Team Detail Rey's New Lightsaber