Spoiler Warning: Please do not openly share the contents of this article on social media and spoil anyone that does not wish to be spoiled. Everyone has a different view regarding what constitutes a spoiler. Be cool and be careful. You have been warned. Also, please do not implicate me in your online social faux pas.

Billie Lourd apparently did more work than just that of Connix for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

I recently heard some pretty interesting things about a flashback sequence in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Apparently there will be a sequence that shows a young Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia having an important conversation that will change how we see some of the characters involved. It seems like this moment probably takes place earlier on in the film. Sources were adamant that it plays with our perspective on the events a little of the trilogy a bit.

While General Leia was never recast, Pinewood sources say Princess Leia apparently was. Carrie Fisher’s daughter Billie Lourd is said to play her stand-in for moments that will be augmented with CGI. For Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Norwegian actress Ingvild Deila played Princess Leia young cameo in that film.

There were incorrect or fabricated rumors that Billie Lourd was playing Princess Leia for a flashback in The Force Awakens, and then again for The Last Jedi. So I’m still a little hesitant about the rumor even though it has come from proven sources on The Rise of Skywalker. For the first time during this trilogy, I’m actually hearing these rumors from Pinewood Studios filmmakers involved, associated, and near the production.

We recently discussed Harrison Ford’s involvement in The Rise of Skywalker. Sources do not believe Harrison Ford is involved in any of the younger flashback moments. It doesn’t mean that isn’t the case. There is also nothing to support Alden Ehrenreich being involved in those moments either, which seems to be the next logical question to ask.

Informed Speculation but still Speculative and Lacking in Hard Detail

What follows is some stuff I think was being inferred. I might be wrong and there might be things being held back at this point that make my analysis way off. But I’m digging it for the fun of it.

It sounds like the sequence in question between post-Return of the Jedi Leia and Luke has a lot to do with why Leia did not purse the path of a Jedi. Some kind of vision, premonition, or warning plays with their judgement sort of like how the events that played out in The Last Jedi between Luke and Kylo. The scant details make it sound like Luke and Leia foresee a problematic future if Leia stays on the forefront of the action on her current path and the duo misreads the vision. Luke has one vision in Empire and drastically runs too Bespin, losing his hand and a friend. Luke considers killing his nephew in a moment of weakness based on the vision he saw of his sleeping nephew. The Skywalker’s are not good at their Force fortunetelling. Leia doesn’t purse the Jedi path during peace time.

Perhaps later when the First Order rises up, Leia becomes a general because no one else is dealing with the issue. In the end, the reason for Leia to not become a Jedi was to raise their son, Ben. However, as we know when Ben finds out he’s Darth Vader’s grandson and his uncle attempts to murder him from his Rashomon’d perspective, Leia is out being a General and isn’t there to help Ben. Bad parental choices sets part of the stage for creating exactly like what they intended to stop, just like Anakin with Padmé’s death in Revenge of the Sith. It would also be ironic that like Obi-Wan and Anakin who became generals instead of true blue Jedi, Leia kind of echos that path.

The well meaning parent that makes the wrong choice for the right reason feels like something J.J. Abrams might do. It also lines up with the original George Lucas plot that put Anakin in a no-win situation. Who wouldn’t make Anakin’s initial choice to save their spouse and child? If that’s how this all plays out, I can dig it. I know some people want Luke Skywalker to be perfect and he’s ever been perfect, he’s just been “us” at our best and he makes all kinds of mistakes. If the previous generation is perfect, there’s nothing for the kids aka the new heroes to rectify that generation. Our parents and our heroes are all flawed and they can’t solve every problem or see the future correctly enough that the next generation gets to take life off and just be entitled and worthless (unless you’re a babyboomer maybe).

De-Age of Empire

All in all, it sounds like we’ll see younger Luke and Leia. We don’t know if they’ve recast Luke Skywalker or if they’ve did some modern movie magic to de-age Mark Hamill. They recast Luke Skywalker for the cut Bespin moment “Force Back” in The Force Awakens. So unless Billie Lourd is actually playing Leia, I would think they would de-age Hamill so its the characters from Return of the Jedi talking to one another.

Hopefully more details emerge soon.