Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy says Carrie Fisher will not be in 'Episode IX' "We've regrouped, we started over again in January," she said.

 -- There was some confusion over whether the late Carrie Fisher would appear in "Star Wars" films after "The Last Jedi," which she filmed before her death last December.

But Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy dismissed reports that stock footage could be used in "Episode IX" to recreate Fisher's character.

"We finished everything in '[Episode] VIII' and Carrie is absolutely phenomenal in the movie," she said of the cast and crew. "We are so happy we were able to complete shooting ['The Last Jedi']."

But Kennedy added, "Unfortunately ... we were well underway in 'Episode IX' in our thoughts, [but] we had not written the script yet. But we've regrouped, we started over again in January. Sadly Carrie will not be in '[Episode] IX.'"

Fisher will reprise her role as General Leia in "Last Jedi," out this December, but this means her iconic run as Leia will come to a close one way or another at the end of the film.

Kennedy's statements are similar to comments Disney CEO Bob Iger made earlier this year. "In ‘Rogue One,’ we created digitally a few characters ... we’re not doing that with Carrie,” he said.

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