After the tragic death of Carrie Fisher, the future of Star Wars is uncertain. Disney had made a significant investment in her character playing a major role in the eighth and ninth installments of the series. Though Fisher had completed her work on Star Wars VIII, filming had not yet begun on Episode IX before she died. This leaves Disney in a tough situation, that many people believe they would remedy using groundbreaking technology they experimented with in Rogue One.

Last night, BBC Newsnight reported that Disney was working with Fisher's estate to negotiate using her digital likeness in Star Wars IX:

Carrie Fisher died less than a fortnight ago, but in the minds of Disney movie moguls and Star Wars fans, she's very much alive. And with what might be regarded as unseemly haste, Disney is negotiating with the actor's estate over her continued appearance in the franchise. If Disney gets the go-ahead, Carrie Fisher will join Peter Cushing, who, last month, 15 years after his death, played a key role in Rogue One as Grand Moff Tarkin. With computers, anything is possible, but is it desirable? While some living actors are contracting over the use of their image when they die, others, like Robin Williams, who killed himself in 2014, explicitly banned the commercial use of his image until 2039.

Today, The Guardian reports that Disney has denied they are "negotiating with Carrie Fisher's estate for the rights to use the actor's digital image in future Star Wars films." It's unclear what exactly Disney's next move will be, but they could however be negotiating using her image in other mediums like merchandise or video games.

From: Esquire US