How much will Luke and Leia be in Star Wars: Episode IX?
Despite Carrie Fisher’s real life death and Luke Skywalker’s death at the end of The Last Jedi, both are expected to appear in Star Wars Episode IX. Here’s how much we can expect to see them.
Currently, there’s a lot of uncertainty on how much of Luke and Leia we will get in Star Wars: Episode IX. As we know, Princess Leia actress Carrie Fisher sadly passed away in December of 2016 at the age of 60, but at that point had completed filming her scenes for The Last Jedi and starred in the movie posthumously.
Her character was left alive at the conclusion of the movie, and after speculation that she may be recast or recreated with CGI, it was announced back in July 2018 by Lucasfilm that “the role of Leia Organa will once again be played by Carrie Fisher, using previously unreleased footage shot for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
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As for the character or Luke Skywalker, we last saw him fade away and become one with the force at the end of The Last Jedi after “force projecting” a copy of himself to the planet Crait. He distracted Kylo Ren and the First Order so the remainder of the Resistance could escape.
Director J.J. Abrams confirmed that Luke died at the conclusion of the movie and did not teleport to another planet as Mark Hamill suggested, meaning Luke Skywalker’s appearance in the upcoming film will either be as a force ghost or in a flashback.
Exactly how large a role each of them will play in Episode IX and the total screen time each will receive as of now, remains to be seen, but at the very least, we can confirm both will appear in the upcoming movie.
A recent Episode IX leak posted on reddit stated both of them will appear together in a flashback to several years before the events of Episode VII The Force Awakens, which states the following:
“Luke and Leia appear in multiple flashbacks, including at least one scene where Leia is being trained or is discussing Jedi training with Luke. The outcome of the training is uncertain. It is also unclear if Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill filmed these scenes and will be de-aged, or if they are portrayed by younger actors and CG’d like Leia and Tarkin in Rogue One. My source has heard nothing about Han appearing in any flashbacks.”
If this leak to believed then it confirms that, like The Last Jedi, the upcoming Star Wars movie will include multiple flashbacks. The flashbacks in The Last Jedi were of a younger Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren when Luke was his mentor, roughly 10 years prior to The Force Awakens.
Mark Hamill played the role of his younger self in the flashback, and if this one occurs during the same time period, it seems likely that he will again.
As for Princess Leia, while she is confirmed to appear in the movie through the use of archival footage, it is unlikely that they would use that footage and digitally de-age Carrie Fisher so she appears younger for the use of her flashback scenes. It seems likely some of these scenes were previously filmed.
Additionally, the leak also states Princess Leia’s role in Star Wars Episode IX as Resistance Leader will be similar in size comparatively to her role in The Last Jedi, but may end up being smaller and the flashbacks will be used to “make her seem more present in the film.” There is no mention if she lives or dies at the end of the movie.
So in summary, we can expect to see both Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher to reprise each of their respective roles in some capacity in Star Wars Episode IX.
If Princess Leia has a similar amount of time in this upcoming movie as she did in The Last Jedi, then expect about 20-30 minutes of screen time.
As for Luke, while I expect him to take a bit of a lesser role in Episode IX, likely in flashbacks to reveal more of his and Kylo’s relationship before their fall out, as well as a force ghost as a mentor to Rey the same way that Obi-Wan Kenobi did for him in the original trilogy.
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Star Wars Episode IX is currently set to be released on December 20.