Star Wars 9: JJ Abrams promises THIS character will NOT be killed in Rise of Skywalker

The countdown has begun. Abrams and Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy gave a major new interview where they revealed the immense pressure to bring the Skywalker Saga to a satisfying close. It is a Herculean task, with many fans extremely alienated by The Last Jedi. They both addressed the huge challenge of giving a fitting ending to one of the biggest figures in the Star Wars universe. There have also been many leaks and reports recently claiming that characters like Chewbacca, Kylo Ren, Lando and even C-3PO might be sacrificed before the end.

Kennedy said: “There was a huge sense of responsibility. We spent a lot of time talking about ‘What do we want to feel?’

“I would say, first of all, Leia – that was a really really complicated conversation but we knew she was such an important character in this story.’ 

Many fans had suspected Leia would have mysteriously died somehow off-camera during the time jump between Episodes 8 and 9 but it was revealed the filmmakers would use previous repurposed footage to bring Carie Fisher’s character to the screen.

Abrams talks emotionally about the struggle to do justice to such a central character.

Abrams told Entertainment Weekly he had been opposed to killing off Leia in between the two films. He said; “It just felt wrong to say she wasn’t around, that she had gone somewhere, to say that she had passed away in between.”

It still left the director and his team with the problem of what to do with the last remaining living member of the original trio.

Abrams said: “There was no way to end this story, she is such an integral part of it.”

This certainly sounds like Leia’s journey will not “end ” in The RIse of Skywalker and she will survive, albeit with much less screen time than originally intended.

Even so, Abrams does promise a proper and satisfying ending to this trilogy and the two that came before.

SCROLL DOWN TO WATCH THE INTERVIEW BELOW

Abrams said: “It’s not just the end of three movies, it’s the end of nine movies. It’s three trilogies. So the story needed to end emotionally.

“It needed to end with scale but with intimacy. It was a bit of a juggling on a tightrope act.

“But it was really important to us that we tell a story that makes people feel where there is a sense if you are a kid watching ll nine movies years from now you see this beginning, middle and end – and you feel it was all coming to this.”

STAR WARS THE RISE OF SKYWALKER IS OUT ON DECEMBER 19

ORIGINAL ARTICLE IN EW