Carrie Fisher Won't Appear In 'Episode 9' After All

According to a new and potentially breaking bit of news, Carrie Fisher won't appear in Star Wars: Episode IX. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy confirmed that despite previous reports of Fisher's inclusion in Episode IX, Fisher would not be in the movie after all. As Kennedy puts it, this is down to the logistics of including Fisher posthumously; it simply is not possible. "Sadly, Carrie will not be in IX," Kennedy told ABC News in a new interview conducted during the Star Wars Celebration in Orlando on Friday.

When news came via Fisher's brother, Todd Fisher, that she might be in Episode IX, there was cause for excitement. Understandably, any chance to hold on to Fisher, and by extension Princess Leia, a little bit longer would be alright in plenty of Star Wars fans' books. Kennedy took a moment to dispel the rumors by saying that Todd Fisher may have been mistaken. She explained,

"He was probably confused because we finished everything in [Episode VIII]. [Fisher's] absolutely phenomenal in the movie and we were so happy to complete shooting in the summer. Unfortunately [Fisher] passed away, so by the time we were well underway with Episode IX, in our thoughts we had not written the script yet but we regrouped, we started over in January."

However, Kennedy offered a silver lining to this bombshell: "But we will see a lot of Carrie in XIII." That is definitely good news, and something we saw confirmed when the trailer for The Last Jedi dropped early on Friday.

As disappointing as it is that our time with Fisher will indeed be done by the time the Last Jedi credits roll, the most important thing to remember is that we got to spend any time with her posthumously at all. That's what counts.