Star Wars 9: Carrie Fisher's family 'unaware' of Leia exit plan – 'She'll never disappear'

Fisher tragically passed away in late 2016, after filming her scenes for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

That movie was released in late 2017, shortly after LucasFilm decided that they would not use any archival footage or CGI trickery to somehow insert her character Leia into trilogy finale Episode 9, which begins production this summer.

Now, Todd Fisher has said he’s not sure how director JJ Abrams is planning to deal with the beloved character’s exit.

Speaking to Variety, however, he said Carrie’s spirit will “never disappear”.

“Yoda came back in the last movie, so why not Carrie?” he said.

“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.”

He also spoke about it being “comforting” to watch Leia in The Last Jedi, but the sequence showing her character in a coma was understandably difficult to digest.

“It cut close to the bone,” he said.

Kathleen Kennedy, the boss of LucasFilm, had told press in late 2017, shortly before The Last Jedi’s release, that Fisher would not make any further posthumous appearances in the franchise.

“Sadly, Carrie will not be in [Episode] Nine,” she told ABC News.

“But we will see a lot of Carrie in Eight.”

Fans had speculated that she could be recreated using CGI, much like her younger self was in the 2016 spin-off Rogue One – which also recreated Peter Cushing’s General Tarkin.

But it was reportedly after meeting with her daughter Billie Lourd, who also stars in the new trilogy, that producers ruled out the possibility.

Mark Hamill has said he has lost enthusiasm about reprising his role as Luke Skywalker again without Fisher and Harrison Ford involved.

Star Wars: Episode 9 is out in December 2019.