J.J. Abrams says ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ will feature Carrie Fisher interacting with her real-life daughter, Billie Lourd.
Carrie passed away at the age of 60 in 2016 after having filmed her role as General Leia Organa in just two of the latest trilogy of ‘Star Wars’ movies, and it was previously revealed that her character would be brought to life in the final instalment using unused scenes from the previous two instalments which were shot before her passing.
The 52-year-old filmmaker revealed that the new movie will see Carrie’s character conversing with a Resistance officer named Lieutenant Connix, played by Billie, 26, and insisted it really feels as though "Carrie is there".
He said: "There are moments in this movie where Carrie is there. And I really do feel there is an element of the uncanny, spiritual, you know, classic Carrie, that it would have happened this way, because somehow it worked. And I never thought it would."
Abrams added that it was "bizarre" trying to piece together the footage of the late star.
He added to Vanity Fair magazine: "The lighting was tweaked just so to make the footage look right. It was a bizarre kind of left side/right side of the brain sort of Venn diagram thing, of figuring out how to create the puzzle based on the pieces we had."
The director previously admitted that it would have been "impossible" to recast Carrie’s role in the film and there was "no way" he was going to write the character completely out of the story.
He said: "As I’ve said we couldn’t [fill the void left by Carrie.] Chris Terrio, the co-writer and Kathy [Kennedy] … as we all talked about how to move on. It was impossible, no way, what are you going to do? You don’t recast that part or certainly have her disappear."
Carrie Fisher will speak to her daughter in The Rise of Skywalker
