Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker to show Carrie Fisher and daughter Billie Lourd touching and talking in shared scenes

Lourd, who plays Lieutenant Kaydel Connix in the new film trilogy, will star in scenes using repurposed, unused footage of Fisher as General Leia from Episode VII, with the two shown touching and talking.

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Director JJ Abrams had originally meant to keep the two characters apart onscreen, but says that Lourd asked him to write scenes in which they could both appear.

“I purposely had written her character in scenes without Carrie, because I just didn’t want it to be uncomfortable for her,” Abrams said in an interview with Vanity Fair. However, according to the director, Lourd said: “I want to be in scenes with her. I want it for my children when I have kids. I want them to see.”

Abrams recalled how Lourd found the process of filming "hard" at times.

“She would get emotional and sort of have to excuse herself for a minute,” he said. “I know it was hard for her for a while".

Fisher, who reprised her role as Leia Organa for the new trilogy's first two instalments, died in December 2016 before filming had begun on Episode IX.

Star Wars Episode IX is scheduled for released on 20th December 2019

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