Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker to reunite Carrie Fisher, daughter on screen - CNET

General Leia appears in The Last Jedi.

Lucasfilm

We talk about movie magic, but sometimes the magic's real. The Rise of Skywalker will focus on the new generation of Star Wars heroes, but Carrie Fisher, who died in 2016, will once again make an appearance as General (formerly Princess) Leia Organa.

Vanity Fair shared the news on Monday that Leia will share scenes with Resistance fighter Lieutenant Connix, played by Fisher's daughter Billie Lourd. Lourd appeared in the role in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. The Vanity Fair feature also includes a new batch of images from the film that gives a first look at the new characters.

Director J.J. Abrams found unused footage of Fisher from The Force Awakens and wrote new scenes around the dialogue. Abrams originally crafted the scenes to leave out Lourd's character, thinking it would be too painful for her, but Lourd asked to be in them.

The filming process wasn't easy for Lourd. "She would get emotional and sort of have to excuse herself for a minute," Abrams told Vanity Fair, saying there are moments when Leia and Connix talk and touch.

Leia may be returning thanks to the magic of clever film editing, but Abrams hopes it will ultimately give comfort to Star Wars fans still grieving the loss of Fisher.

Star Wars: Episode 9 premieres Dec. 19 in the UK and Dec. 20 in the US and Australia, If you want to catch up or revisit the saga in the meantime, check out our guide to watching all the movies online in chronological order.

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