The creative team behind Star Wars: The Last Jedi have chosen not to change their storyline in the wake of actress Carrie Fisher's tragic death.
Fisher died last December days after suffering a heart attack on a transatlantic flight, plunging the Star Wars community into mourning for the beloved General Leia actress.
In the months before her death, Fisher had been working on the eighth instalment of the Star Wars franchise along with her original co-star Mark Hamill in a long-awaited reunion of Leia and Luke.
Talk naturally turned to whether The Last Jedi would commemorate Carrie's passing by writing out the Leia character, but now Disney CEO Bob Iger has confirmed that will not be the case.
"When we bought Lucasfilm, we were going to make three films - Episodes VII, VIII and IX. We had to deal tragedy at the end of 2016," Bob Iger told students during a USC Q&A on Thursday (March 23).
"Carrie appears throughout VIII. We are not changing VIII to deal with her passing. Her performance - which we're really pleased with - remains as it is in VIII. In Rogue One, we had a digital character. We are not doing that with Carrie, although technology gives us that possibility today."
Despite initial fears to the contrary, Lucasfilm spoke out in January to confirm that it had no plans to digitally recreate Carrie Fisher for future Star Wars movies like it had with the late Peter Cushing in Rogue One.
Fans from across the world will have a chance to remember Fisher this Saturday when her famous friends and her adorable dog celebrate her life in a live-streamed memorial.
Now that we know what's not in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, there's a bit of new info about what is in the movie. Iger teased during his talk on Thursday that the sequel will balance both classic and new characters.
"[The Last Jedi] is just as satisfying as [The Force Awakens] was. We're really proud of it," the Disney executive beamed. "It's a combination of drawing from the great heritage that was George Lucas's Star Wars but also bringing it to new places with new characters."
He dropped a few other major Star Wars spoilers along the way too, revealing that sequels beyond Episode IX are already in the works and teasing that the upcoming Han Solo spinoff will actually reveal the smuggler's real name.
