Everything about “Star Wars: Episode VIII” remains a secret as the clock ticks down toward its release at the end of the year. And one of the big questions right now is what the future of the franchise holds following Carrie Fisher‘s death. The actress had finished filming her scenes for the movie, but key narrative points revolve around General Organa in both ‘Episode 8’ and the yet to be filmed ‘Episode 9,’ and this week, Lucasfilm was having meetings to try and figure out how navigate the challenge that lays ahead. And believe it or not, there is talk that Carrie Fisher’s likeness may get digitized.
Star Wars News reveals that during a report on BBC Newsnight yesterday about the digital work done for “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” which involved digital tech-enabled likenesses of Peter Cushing and a young Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia, it was claimed that Disney is looking to continue doing that for the latter in future series installments.
“And in what might be regarded as unseemly haste, Disney is negotiating with the actor’s estate over her continued appearance in the franchise. If Disney gets the go-ahead, Carrie Fisher will join Peter Cushing…,” the report said.
It’ll be interesting to see if they get approval, and what that might mean for the next two films. I would still imagine that whatever the scenario, significant rewrites are going to be needed, and I would wager Rian Johnson’s ‘Episode 8’ will need to be recut and possibly even reshot depending on how ‘Episode 9’ is reshaped. Also, for all we know, maybe Disney is looking at Leia for spinoff appearances too, such as in the brewing Han Solo movie. There’s much to consider, but again, this is all far from official just yet.
Meanwhile, Johnson has offered a couple clues about his upcoming film, and in particular, how we’ll see Rey evolve.
“[Rey and Luke Skywalker meet] both not knowing what’s going to happen and also having a lot of expectations in her head about how this is going to go,” Johnson told USA Today. “It very much feels like what we all go through in adolescence, the dawning of this new chapter of our lives.”
And the director says that Finn and Poe will also join Rey in seeing their stories expand. “I wanted to know more about each of them, and that doesn’t just mean information or backstory,” he added. “Figure out what’s the most difficult thing each of them could be challenged with now — let’s throw that at them and dig into what really makes them tick by seeing how they handle that.”
There will clearly be a lot to dive into when “Star Wars: Episode VIII” lands on December 15th, and you might want to keep your eyes peeled for characters from “Star Wars Rebels” too.