Carrie Fisher's Brother Hopes Leia is in EPISODE IX

Carrie Fisher’s brother, Todd Fisher, recently spoke to Variety and revealed that he wishes that Carrie reprise her role as General Leia Organa in Episode IX. This normally would be a “duh” moment, except that Carrie passed away in December 2016. Todd told the outlet:

“Yoda came back in the last movie, so why not Carrie? In the first film, Obi-Wan says that if he dies, he’ll come back stronger than ever. I feel like that’s Carrie. She’ll never disappear entirely.”

I wish it were that simple to bring Leia back. However, Lucasfilm has already said they won’t digitally insert Carrie. Of course, back when Colin Trevorrow was directing the film, there was some footage shot that they were planning on using. However, with the change of directors, it’s impossible to know what they plan to do. Everyone was planning on Leia having a huge role in Episode IX. Mark Hamill put it this way:

“I know they’re going to try and find a way to close her story in [Episode IX] that gives her the respect she deserves. Because [Han] was more prominent in [The Force Awakens], Luke’s a little more prominent in [The Last Jedi], and certainly Leia was meant to be more prominent in [IX].”

It seems that Carrie wanted that larger role too. Kathleen Kennedy of Lucasfilm has shared this tidbit that confirmed what Hamill had said:

“She was having a blast. The minute she finished, she grabbed me and said, ‘I’d better be at the forefront of IX!’ Because Harrison was front and center on VII, and Mark is front and center on VIII. She thought IX would be her movie. And it would have been.”

I’m very interested to find out what they decide to do about Leia in Episode IX. They either have to give her an off-screen death (not out of the question since it looks like there will be a time jump) or they’ll have to go the CGI route. Which way do you want them to go?