General Leia Organa? Carrie Fisher’s ‘Star Wars 7’ Character Is Princess Leia No Longer [Spoilers]

General Leia Organa was either promoted or demoted depending on how you look at it. In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia goes by a completely different name, and the reason behind the change may indicate some Star Wars spoilers.

In a related report by the Inquisitr, Mark Hamill recently denied that he accidentally called Princess Leia by her real name in the original 1977 Star Wars, although some fans claim it’s obvious.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Star Wars director J.J. Abrams revealed how General Leia has been the Princess’ new name for many years.

“She’s referred to as General,” explained Abrams. “But … there’s a moment in the movie where a character sort of slips and calls her ‘Princess.'”

Presumably, anyone who would still refer to Princess Leia as being a Princess would have known her for quite a while. This narrows down the list considerably, although we should not automatically assume it is Harrison Ford’s Han Solo or Hamill’s Luke Skywalker characters.

There is also the matter of whether Princess Leia Organa even deserved to keep the royal title after the destruction of Alderaan. In the original Star Wars expanded universe, which has since been discarded by Disney, the survivors of the destroyed planet do eventually form a New Alderaan. But apparently there was no attempt at reinstating the monarchy, and Leia became the New Republic’s Chief Of State, so the title of Princess did not have any real meaning beyond history.

Hardcore Star Wars fans may debate this issue endlessly, but in the case of Star Wars: The Force Awakens there’s an entire history full of unknowns waiting to be explored. It is possible the war with the remnants of the Empire has been dragging along for much longer than the events depicted in the Star Wars expanded universe, so it’s possible General Leia has been fighting under this new name for quite a while.

“The stakes are pretty high in the story for her, so there’s not much goofing around where Leia’s concerned,” Abrams said. “But it felt historic to have her, especially with Harrison, back in scenes together. I can only imagine the baggage that they bring to it, I’m just a fan who loves this stuff, but they’ve been living with it — and living in it — since ’77.”

Carrie Fisher is perfectly fine with being General Leia instead of a princess, but based upon Abrams’ comments she thinks other Star Wars characters need something else to call Leia.

“People should say, ‘Hey! You! My one true joy!'” she says.

But General Leia’s role is hardly joyful. Abrams has described General Leia as having a lot of emotional baggage that weighs her down heavily. Fisher says the character is “not easily” handling this adjustment in life, and perhaps fans should not expect any comical quips from General Leia any time soon.

Instead, Fisher describes General Leia as living a “solitary” lifestyle which puts her under a “lot of pressure.” General Leia is committed to her cause despite all the years of apparent heartache, but these unknown events have left General Leia “feeling somewhat defeated, tired, and pissed.”

It is not only General Leia who making an adjustment. J.J. Abrams says Carrie Fisher’s acting career had been put on hold for quite a while, so this required Fisher to adjust to bringing the famous character back to life again.

“She’d been writing more than she had been acting,” Abrams says. “So I think that for her, it was a bigger adjustment, which she made beautifully.”

Fans will be able to find out what has been going on with General Leia Organa for all these years once Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens on December 18, 2015. Of course, if you did not buy your tickets weeks ago, you may have to watch out for online Star Wars spoilers, and loud mouth friends, who may other spoil any surprises.

[Image via Lucasfilm]