'Star Wars Episode 9' Leia: "Lots" of Carrie Fisher Footage Will Be Used

J.J. Abrams faces a dilemma with [Star Wars: Episode IX. The movie needs to provide fans with closure on Leia Organa’s story using nothing but footage that didn’t make it into the previous sequels (Lucasfilm already ruled out any CGI trickery like in Rogue One). However, a recent update from Carrie Fisher’s brother reveals there may be even more footage on hand than we realized.

Appearing on Good Morning America, Todd Fisher said he’s “thrilled” with what Abrams managed to achieve so far in Episode IX, adding that the upcoming movie has a surprising amount of footage to work with:

“There’s a lot of minutes of footage. I don’t mean just outtakes. This is unused, new content that could be woven into the storyline. That’s what’s going to give everybody such a great kick. It’s going to look like it was meant to be. Like it was shot yesterday.”

It’s unclear exactly how many minutes we’re talking about here, but you probably still shouldn’t get your hopes up just yet. After all, it could still just be 10 minutes of footage (or less) in a movie that will probably run over two hours in length.

Then again, it’s possible Lucasfilm could be sitting on an entirely unused Leia-centric plotline A report over the summer revealed that the studio allegedly wrote and filmed an additional side-plot about General Lei Organa’s efforts to create a super-weapon of her own called the Warhammer that could give the Resistance an advantage over the First Order.

Assuming that’s true, it could give Fisher an exciting sendoff in Star Wars: Episode IX. But either way, based on her brother’s latest statement, it sounds like Leia fans will have something to look forward to in the upcoming movie.

Star Wars: Episode IX hits theaters on December 20, 2019.

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