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Some two years after her passing, Carrie Fisher returns to the big screen next month for one final outing as Princess Leia in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, with director J.J. Abrams crafting her role from unused footage shot during production on 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

While Leia was expected to play a prominent role in Episode IX – with Fisher’s brother Todd even suggesting that the she would have been “the last Jedi” following the death of her twin brother Luke Skywalker – Abrams has revealed to Total Film that he believes he’s managed to tell the Leia story he wanted with The Rise of Skywalker.

“There are scenes where she’s interacting with other characters in a way that is uncanny,” states Abrams. “Hopefully, if it works, it will be an invisible thing and if you didn’t know, you would never know. But we got to tell the story with Leia that we would have told had Carrie lived. And that’s kind of incredible.”

SEE ALSO: George Lucas talked with J.J. Abrams about Midi-chlorians ahead of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

According to reports, Abrams had around 7 minutes of unused Leia footage available to him for The Rise of Skywalker, and so it will certainly be interesting to see how this has been used to craft what will hopefully be a fitting farewell to the beloved character.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is set for release on December 19th 2019 in the UK and December 20th 2019 in North America. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker sees J.J. Abrams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) directing a cast that includes Star Wars veterans Daisy Ridley (Rey), Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), John Boyega (Finn), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), Lupita Nyong’o (Maz Kanata), Domhnall Gleeson (General Hux), Kelly Marie Tran (Rose Tico), Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca), Billie Lourd (Lieutenant Connix), Greg Grunberg (Snap Wexley), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian) and Carrie Fisher (Leia Organa) as well as new additions Naomi Ackie (Lady Macbeth), Richard E. Grant (Logan), Dominic Monaghan (Lost), and Keri Russell (The Americans).