Re-casting Leia to honor the character...

"Don't look at me, look at him." Was a sort of passing the torch to Poe, anyway. To me her story felt complete in that moment. They could easily use the crawl to write her out of 9. Or they could use Battlefront 3, they found a pretty convincing General Leia voice for the Resurrection dlc.

 

I understand that Carrie is Leia and I get the argument that recasting her at the end would be disrespectful, but I also feel that letting her character die between movies is totally weak and also disrespectful to the legacy she's built as the character of Princess Leia. I think it's kinda bad judgement if their intention is to set Leia up with amazing force powers in TLJ (which I thought was awesome) and then to just have her die off screen in between movies.

I think they should sort of halfway it. Have her in an opening sequence of some sort, and a few other scenes where she is a hologram played by another actress + CGI. It would be a lot easier to fudge and accept if Rey's in deep space on a mission and gets orders from General Leia. Then, there can be a major plot point in the movie where General Leia is assassinated off screen and Rey has to return to the resistance base or meet up with the fleet. The resistance then retaliates against Kylo Ren, which sets up the final battle.

Also, the way they cut in gold leader and the older pilots into Rogue One makes me think there might be some way to re contextualize already shot footage or dialogue into a conversation like this. They might not even have to truly recast her if they have enough material to cleverly shoot around. The other characters could do most of the talking and have most of the screen time, and they could use old audio and a fake hologram to have Leia respond here and there.

 

I'm not a big fan of an off screen death unless there is a long gap between episodes 8 and 9....but that being said, I hope they use existing footage of Carrie Fisher to show either Leia traveling on resistance work somewhere during the first half hour of the film, or Rey, Poe, Finn and Rose out on some mission when Leia's location is attacked and she gets killed saving others.

For those final scenes they can have a hologram of Leia with a voice actress saying the lines and leaving a final goodbye message. I find it emotionally easier to accept a voice actress playing her part since others have voiced the role of Princess Leia even when Carrie Fisher was alive so it won't feel out of place. It is a good way to give her a heroic ending instead of just writing her off.

Then the heroes return to the Base and after a brief funeral, Poe takes command of the resistance and the actual war to end all wars begins.

 

Whatever they choose to do it will divide fans. It would be too jarring to see anyone else play Leia and yet using CGI could be classed as disrespectable . Personally, I would go down the route of having her pass away between films and Episode IX start with her funeral so she can be properly honoured. A shame as Leia has been such a huge part of the ST films but neither of the options is ideal but what choice do they have?

 

My opinion and wish: Leia gets killed in the opening sequence, by Ren.
Maybe, Rey witnesses the murder.

Leia Organa can at this time be played by a recast, seen from back, alternated with few short sequences involving Carrie Fisher's face, reusing old material from TLJ: I think that, when they shooted the "explosion scene", they may have kept some pictures/rehearsals of her dying.

That murder should not last more than 30 seconds.
It's meant to set up the starting point of the movie, starting Kylo Ren's last step of evolution.
It embodies the mother/son showdown we all expect between Leia and Ben : remember Ben already faced his father and his former master, but not his mother yet. He needs that.
It gives Leia an on-screen death, like Han and Luke got : and all of them due to Kylo Ren (in fact, I think it would be a huge error, as the two others of the Big Three had their death on screen, to have Leia killed off-screen).
It does not require to throw in the movie neither a forced recast character, nor a missing Leia (anyways: both solution would inevitably lead to haters and lovers).

We got our beloved Leia one last time, we got some pictures of our beloved Carrie, we definitely close the Leia Organa door and properly end the Skywalker line. We can then move on.
my 2 cents

 

Problem with all of that is KK and LFL have gone on record saying they won't reuse footage or use CGI. Pretty much makes this scene impossible without a full recast of the character.

 

I completwly agree. Killing Leia off screen would be undeserving of her charachter. Both Leia's and Carrie's.
I actually think if Leia did what Holdo did in TLJ it would have been soo much better for the story and would have had much stronger impact on us all. Like this, her last SW performance is...underwhelming. A thing I find overwhelmingly sad.

I loved the Snoke's Ship Destruction scene...but I don't know who Holdo is. I don't care about Holdo's charachter. And just the thought of Leia flying that cruiser into the Enemy's flotilla sends shivers down my spine. So intense, it makes me forget all about her spacesuit-free flight through near perfect vacuum and absolute zero temperature conditions.

But they missed that chance. Possibly because they planned something big with her charachter in episode 9 or even beyond. Under the circumstances as they are now, with Carrie gone, the only thing that could be viable to do is a combo of re-cast and best available CGI in order to make her charachter go out in flames at the start of the next movie...
We'll find out soon enough

 

Whatever they do, I just feel rather strongly that her death has to be a significant plot point in episode 9, and not just something mentioned in the opening crawl. There may be a clever way to have her die off-screen early on. I feel like off-screen in a movie, even if it happens right away, is was better and more respectful than in between films. Her death HAS to affect the characters and be a major plot point.

Here's a thought...what if she dies early on (or in the crawl if you are so inclined) and becomes one with the force? Then she speaks to Rey Obi-Wan style later in the film and Leia is recast only with a voice actress. She gives Rey a few pieces of advice and her presence is minimal, but important.

 

I don't subscribe to this cheap throw away stuff of killing Leia offscreen or in some gimmick.

She should be recast because it seems to best serve the story, best serves the character, and I strongly believe best honors Carrie's memory since she busted her ass to put herself in position to reprise the role and I just can't imagine she would want that thrown to the wayside because she couldn't take her character over the finish line.

I understand other fans may genuinely feel the best way to honor Carrie is to kill the character she can no longer portray but I increasingly get the strong feeling that some are actually just trying to get the quickest path to closure for themselves not the story, the character, or our real life princess from some of the responses to what I can only consider the correct decision to give us Carrie's full last performance as Leia.

 

I'm generally opposed to this, but I'll humor you for a moment. Who would you pick?

 

I think recasting her would be a bad idea at this point. People are having a hissy fit with Alden's younger Han Solo. If they re-casted Leia for Episode 9, people would have a fit. I don't think the fandom is ready for that. With that said, I personally wouldn't mind it, if they did re-cast her for Episode 9 if it was to make the story better. I personally think they should have Leia die off screen and have Billy Lourds character take on Leia's role. I think having her real life blood taking the torch would be cool.

 

I tend to agree on all points, but at this moment I'd like to emphasize how I agree with having Billie Lourd's character step up. She was pretty cool in TLJ and I want to see more of her.

 

I haven't seen her in a few years but I tend to think Kate Mulgrew might be a minimally jarring transition from Leia in Last Jedi in appearance, screen presence, and even from where Carrie's voice was.

Or perhaps Rene Russo. She doesn't remind me of Carrie as much at this point in life as much but I think she'd make a very good General Leia.

Jane Seymour might be able to convey Leia's heart well still. A bit older though.

Ashley Judd could do it for me all around for me, I think. A bit younger though.

I don't think she'd be interested based on her recent comments about blockbusters but Jodie Foster could rock it pretty well.

You can always unload a dumptruck full of ca$h and I'm confident Streep could hold the role down.

Maybe Peri Gilpin from Frasier?

Perhaps Daryl Hannah could bring that lovable sassiness?

That's just a few options off the top of my head and it may well be even better to bring in someone totally other maybe from the stage or a character actor.

 

Yea I don't think recasting her will be the best nor do I feel they will actually do it. Don't think they will be disrespectful. Carrie was Lea. Regardless of who they get, there will be plenty that don't agree with it. Plenty of fan will complain about the CGI if they tried it. It think the safest two options is to Die of screen (either in the time before IX or at the beginning) or just have her referenced as being out in the galaxy with Snap or someone taking care of business. Still have a while to wait to see what they decide.

 

whatever happens KK,JJ and Terrio lose.

People will be upset whatever they do with the character tbh

 

Qui Gon was a voice after his death (and didn't appear like Yoda and Obi-wan) so canon does support this possibility.