Star Wars 9: BRILLIANT secret behind ‘emotional’ Leia moment revealed by Daisy Ridley

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will feature the late Fisher as Leia, thanks to previously unused footage from 2015’s The Force Awakens.

One such moment is in the film’s trailer; in which an emotional Rey (Ridley) hugs her.

Ridley has now explained what was happening during that shot on set – and it is, in typical Fisher fashion, hilarious.

Asked by Vulture if she remembers shooting the hug, she told Vulture: “It’s not a million miles away from what this scene is. It was very sad.

“I found it very moving to watch it, because I do remember the original. And it’s a strange thing to do, for someone that’s not around anymore to be brought back to life.

“It’s eerie that it resonates so much with what the story is this time. It’s pretty amazing.”

She added: “She was actually whispering,’“This is a f***ing long hug.’

“I was trying to do my acting, like, ‘Oh my god, Carrie!’ There wasn’t any discussion about what we were gonna do.”

Appearing at Star Wars Celebration in April, JJ Abrams had spoken about the process of bringing Fisher back as Leia.

“Carrie was the best, she was glorious, she was amazing,” he said.

“It was impossible – what are you gonna do? You don’t recast that part, and you don’t have her disappear.

“The weird miracle of having a number of scenes that had gone unused… looking at those scenes and understanding there was a way to use those scenes and continue her story.”

He added: “The idea of having a CG character was off the table, we’d never want to try.

“So the idea of ‘what if we could work scenes around her’? And emotionally, every day it hits me that she’s not here but it’s so surreal because we’re working with her still.

“She’s in scenes, and so alive in the scenes. The craziest part is how not crazy it is.

“In some scenes with Billie [Lourd], her daughter… Princess Leia lives in this film in a way that is kind of mind-blowing to me.”

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is out on December 19.