JJ Abrams Confirms How Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Was Written Around Leia's Scenes

Most films are written with expectations that the stars will act out the story. But what if a key player is no longer available to do so? Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker director J.J. Abrams has just revealed that they came up with an excellent way to bring the late Carrie Fisher back in Episode IX.

Abrams was recently part of the Episode IXpanel at Star Wars Celebration and the director admitted that the cast and crew didn't want to replace Fisher in the movie. Instead, they found a way to make sure that General Leia Organa is still played by the late actress using footage originally filmed for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

"You don't recast that part and you don't suddenly have her disappear. The weird miracle of having a number of scenes from Force Awakens that had got unused, looking at those scenes and starting to understand that there was an actually a way to use those scenes and continue her story so that it would be her. The idea of having a CG character was off the table … we said, 'What if we could write scenes about her so it's her performance?'" Abrams stated.

It's certainly a brilliant way to make sure Leia is played by Fisher all the way to the end of the Skywalker Saga. We already got glimpses at Leia in the Rise of Skywalker trailer so we're certainly looking forward to seeing Fisher one last time this year.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is currently scheduled for release on December 20.

Related: Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker Trailer Possibly Confirms Return Of The Jedi Location

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