This report contains possible spoilers for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

In the wake of actor and writer Carrie Fisher’s tragic passing in December, reports about the current Star Wars trilogy have been full of questions and guesses. What exactly should we expect from the popular character of Princess Leia in the remaining two episodes, and how will the film's producers deal with her original actor not being able to complete Leia's plot arc?

Lucasfilm took the unusual step of confirming one major detail about the series’ future on Friday, announcing that the company does not intend to recreate the actor’s persona using digital means.

Telling fans that “we don’t normally respond to fan or press speculation,” Lucasfilm published a statement at the StarWars.com blog confirming that the Disney-owned company "has no plans to digitally recreate Carrie Fisher’s performance as Princess or General Leia Organa.”

The statement, which also paid tribute to the actor ("[we] will always strive to honor everything [Fisher] gave to Star Wars"), doesn’t specify which projects Lucasfilm’s producers may be referring to. Multiple outlets have reported that Fisher had completed her work acting in the upcoming, untitled eighth episode, and many of those outlets published follow-up reports claiming that the character of Leia Organa had been set to play a major role in Episode IX. Without going into specifics, Lucasfilm’s statement clearly isn’t a retroactive one in terms of claiming that the company would never produce a CGI version of Fisher.

Considering how many other Star Wars-related projects will be made in the near future (and beyond), the statement’s declarative-yet-vague nature is interesting. Lucasfilm may very well be declaring the end of using Carrie Fisher’s recreated likeness (meaning, combined appearance and voice) in any film, TV, or video game project, which also suggests new actors taking the role for older and/or younger versions of the character. Then again, “no plans” is a pretty good wiggle-room phrase, should CGI-Fisher be deemed appropriate again.

Though this is a relatively uneducated guess, it’s hard to imagine Leia’s character being stricken entirely from Episode IX. Reports have pointed to her role increasing in prominence as the current trilogy continues, and there’s clearly more room in the cinematic universe to explore Leia’s character—particularly, her Jedi heritage. Plenty of time remains between now and Episode IX's incredibly tentative May 2019 release window to find out more about what's to come (including, of course, the entirety of the forthcoming Episode VIII, set to release this December).

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