Carrie Fisher will not appear in Star Wars Episode IX, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy has confirmed.
The much loved actress, famous for playing Princess Leia in the movie franchise, died at the end of last year.
Speaking to Good Morning America at the Star Wars Celebration event in Orlando, Kennedy said that although General Leia was initially set to feature in Episode IX, Fisher’s death made the team want to ‘start over’.
“We finished everything in VIII, and Carrie is absolutely phenomenal in the movie, and we’re so happy that we were able to complete shooting in the summer.”
However with the next instalment of the space opera franchise still to be filmed, Kathleen explained how original plans had to be changed.
“By the time we were well underway with Episode IX in our thoughts, we had no written the scripts yet, but we’ve regrouped, we started over again in January.”
“So sadly, Carrie will not be in IX. But we’ll see a lot of her in VIII, which is great.”
Check out the newly released trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi:
George Lucas and Harrison Ford paid tribute to the late star at the event.
After a question and answer session with a panel made up of cast and crew, a five minute clip of Fisher was played.
Introduced by Carrie’s daughter, Billie Lourd, the video featured behind-the-scenes footage of Fisher, photographs and clips of interviews Fisher had conducted over the years.
Watch the emotional video below:
Speaking ahead of the screening Lourd said “my mom, like Leia, wasn’t ever afraid to speak her mind and say things that might have made most people uncomfortable, but not me and not you.”
“That was why she loved you, because you accepted and embraced all of her.”
Star Wars director George Lucas also spoke about the late star.
“It was her war and when I cast it, I said I want somebody young to play the part. I want somebody very young.”
“When Carrie came in, she was that character. She was very strong, very smart, very funny, very bold, very tough, and there really wasn’t much of a question. There are not very many people like her. They are one in a billion.”
Let us know your thoughts on this story over on Twitter @CelebMix