The last time that fans saw 60-year-old actress Carrie Fisher in a movie was in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” shown in December last year where she reprised her iconic character, Princess Leia.
She was already old alright but she still showed flashes of brilliance on screen as her character takes refuge with the rebel forces as a new order of the Empire looms large. Carrie Fisher also shared some screen time with veteran Hollywood actor Harrison Ford in the movie.
Ford reprised his Hans Solo role and those who know their ‘Star Wars’ basic should also be aware that Hans Solo and Princess Leia had a romantic history in the franchise.
In fact, in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” Hans Solo and Princess Leia had a son Ben, who was also known as Kylo Ren. The latter was the one who killed his father during their sword fight, very much like Luke Skywalker killing off his father, Darth Vader, but on opposite sides of good and evil.
With Hans Solo gone, it is already expected that Harrison Ford would have already bid his goodbye to the franchise finally, after four movies and nearly 40 years.
Not counting the currently showing “Star Wars: Rogue One,” the eighth movie of the franchise “Star Wars 8,” shall be hitting theaters in December next year and it was almost expected that fans would get to see Princess Leia some more since her brother Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill, showed up towards the end of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
Redoing the story
But it looks like Disney, the owner of the “Star Wars” franchise after buying Lucasfilm from George Lucas a few years back, will have to redo the script of “Star Wars 8” and “Star Wars 9” as far as the character of Princess Leia is concerned.
On December 27, actress Carrie Fisher passed away which was a result of her fatal heart attack before Christmas.
While nearly everyone else was hoping and praying for her recovery from the heart attack, Carrie Fisher was no longer able to hold on and she died, leaving her families, friends, and most in Hollywood saddened with her demise.
Immediately after the death of Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford issued a public statement saying that the actress was a one-of-a-kind person who lived her life bravely. The actor expressed his condolences to Carrie’s daughter Billie, her mother Debbie, her brother Todd and her many friends.
Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, echoed Harrison Ford’s description of the actress by saying that Carrie was one-of-a-kind and a true character who shared her talent and her truth with everyone with her trademark wit and irreverence, notes The Guardian.
George Lucas, who know Carrie from the first “Star Wars” trilogy from the late 70s to the early 80s also released a statement detailing that he and the actress had been friends most of their adult lives. Lucas said that Fisher was extremely smart; a talented actress, writer, and comedienne with a very colorful personality that everyone loved.
Critically-acclaimed director, writer, and producer Steven Spielberg also paid tribute to the actress by saying that he has always stood in awe of Carrie. Her observations always made Spielberg laugh and gasp at the same time.
The director and producer said that Carrie didn’t need The Force. She was a force of nature, of loyalty and of friendship, ending his statement by saying that he will sorely miss the actress.
How it happened
Carrie Fisher had a heart attack last week while she was aboard a Los Angeles-bound flight 15 minutes prior to landing. A medic onboard performed CPR on the actress until paramedics arrived to take her to UCLA Medical Center, where she was placed on a ventilator.
The daughter of Debbie Reynolds and singer Eddie Fisher, Carrie Fisher made her Broadway debut as a teenager in the play “Irene,” which starred her mother.
After making her big screen debut in 1975’s “Shampoo” and briefly enrolling in London’s Central School of Speech and Drama and then Sarah Lawrence College, Fisher dropped out, at the age of 19, after landing the role of Princess Leia in George Lucas’ 1977 space epic “Star Wars,” reports the Rolling Stone.