‘Star Wars’ Episode 8: Carrie Fisher Finished Her Scenes Before Passing Away

Star Wars fans won’t have to worry about Princess Leia not making it to Episode 8 because according to sources involved in the production Carrie Fisher was able to finish her scenes before she passed away on December 27.

In Episode 8 Carrie Fisher will still be part of the cast portraying her role as General Leia Organa as reported by Variety.

According to the entertainment site, sources from the Star Wars production said that filming for the upcoming sequel to The Force Awakens were completed in July and they are currently in post-production right now.

So it’s safe to say that in Episode 8 Carrie Fisher will still get to delight fans of the epic space saga with her presence.

But despite that fans of the saga are wondering how Leia Organa’s involvement in the story will unfold in the final installment to the latest Star Wars trilogy.

Will the production do the same thing they did to Peter Cushing when they filmed Rogue One? Or will they come up with a plot line that will conclude with Leia’s death?

In Rogue One the production was able to bring back to life Peter Cushing by digitally recreating his likeness on screen. Cushing played Grand Moff Tarkin the first commander of the original Death Star in the first Star Wars trilogy.

Cushing died in 1994 due to prostate cancer but the production behind Rogue One thought that the late actor was far too important to the film that using another actor to play his role was out of the question.

With that in mind, the people behind Rogue One decided to use Guy Henry, an actor who closely resembled Cushing, and had his appearance digitally altered to mimic the star of several Hammer films.

The appearance of Cushing in Rogue One was so realistic that his former secretary, Joyce Broughton, was dazzled when she saw him portraying his former role once more.

It’s due to the direction that Rogue One took that a lot of people are wondering if the production behind Episode 9 will do the same to Carrie Fisher for the final installment.

Thankfully, in Episode 8 Carrie Fisher’s likeness won’t have to be digitally created because she was able to finish filming her scenes before she passed away recently.

Although some are asking if there will be alterations to the upcoming sequel to The Force Awakens seeing that in Episode 8 Carrie Fisher’s character might die before she reaches Episode 9.

Fortunately, reports have confirmed that in Episode 8 Carrie Fisher’s death will not be an issue to alter the story.

According to Fox News, there’ll be no need to address the death of Leia in Episode 8. Instead, they will introduce it in Episode 9 although there are questions and disputes on how they will bring it up in the final installment.

Divided fans

Despite the use of digital technology to bring back late actors to the screen not all fans of the Star Wars saga are on board with this tactic.

According to a blog piece by Zac Thompson from The Huffington Post digitally recreating Peter Cushing for Rogue One was “disrespectful” to the late actor.

A writer for The Guardian also shared her thoughts about using digital technology to bring back to life an actor who has long been gone.

Catherine Shoard echoed Thompson’s sentiments in that recreating Cushing to satisfy the cravings of some Star Wars fans to see old characters come to life once more may have been too much and for her it was a “digital indignity.”

It’s with these in mind that some fans of the epic saga are wondering how the production behind the last two installments to the Star Wars franchise will deal with the passing of one of the greatest actors to have graced the screen.

In Episode 8 Carrie Fisher was able to film all of her scenes but will the production use them to digitally recreate her for the final installment or will they simply let her rest in peace?

[Featured Image by Barry Brecheisen/Invision/AP Images]