Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi to feature General Leia Organa's death?

Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi is likely to feature the death of General Leia Organa, as Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has revealed that Carrie Fisher will not be appearing in Episode IX.

Fans of the franchise were surprised to hear the latest update about the iconic character during the Star Wars Celebration in Orlando on Friday, April 14. The big revelation came just a few days after the late actress' brother Todd Fisher teased that the actress will have a major role to play in the next film.

"She's as much a part of it as anything and I think her presence now is even more powerful than it was, like Obi Wan — when the saber cuts him down he becomes more powerful. I feel like that's what's happened with Carrie. I think the legacy should continue," Todd said during the TCM Film Festival in Los Angeles last week.

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However, Kennedy revealed that Fisher will not be included in the cast list of Star Wars 9. "Sadly, Carrie will not be in [Episode] IX," she told ABC while interacting with the Good Morning America host. "But we will see a lot of Carrie in VIII. Carrie is remarkable in the movie. What Rian wrote and the performance she ends up giving is an amazing tribute to her talent," the Lucasfilm president added.

Kennedy also stated that Todd would have been confused mainly because the actress is "absolutely phenomenal" in The Last Jedi and the filming of it was complete before the actress' demise.

"We're so happy that we were able to complete shooting in the summer. Unfortunately, Carrie passed away. So by the time we were well under way with Episode IX, in our thoughts, we had not written the script, but we've regrouped and started over again in January," she explained.

So fans started speculating that Star Wars 8 could feature the death of General Leia Organa. But one of the fan-sites called Star Wars News Net claimed that the character could probably take on another journey. Check out the complete statement below:

Many people were speculating about which path Lucasfilm should choose for Leia's future. Now we know that her journey will end with The Last Jedi. This still doesn't necessarily mean that Leia will die in The Last Jedi. It will be just too heartbreaking for everyone. I think the best way to handle this is to approach it like Universal did with Paul Walker in the last Fast and Furious film. Perhaps she will just take on another journey in another galaxy even farther away.