Carrie Fisher's untimely death changed the original plan for General Leia Organa in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, with the actress passing away before anything was filmed.
However, the late star's brother has opened up about the original idea for where her character would go in the next movie, claiming that she would have fact been the "last Jedi", rather than her brother Luke Skywalker.
"She was going to be the big payoff in the final film," Todd Fisher told Yahoo Entertainment. "She was going to be the last Jedi, so to speak. That's cool right?"
While we never got to see Leia wield a lightsaber, her Force abilities were teased in The Last Jedi during a scene in which she was flung out in space.
"People used to say to me, 'Why is it that Carrie never gets a lightsaber and chops up some bad guys,'" Fisher added, noting that Obi-Wan Kenobi actor Alec Guinness was a similar age to Carrie when he first played the role. "Obi-Wan was in his prime when he was Carrie's age."
Speaking about The Rise of Skywalker using unused footage of Leia, Todd explained: "The truth is that JJ Abrams was great friends with Carrie... he had an extraordinary sense of love for her.
"They had eight minutes of footage. They grabbed every frame and analysed it... and then reverse-engineered it and [got] it into the story the right way. It’s kind of magical."
He added: "This is, in its own way, a payoff. ... It's Carrie talking to us all from beyond. The beautiful thing about the concept of the Force is that there is no real death; you just exist in another dimension.
"So Carrie is looking down or sideways or wherever and is still part of us. To be able to see that – it's magical stuff only in the movies."
JJ Abrams himself recently revealed that Leia will be the "heart" of The Rise of Skywalker, saying: "We realised we could not possibly tell the end of these nine films without Leia. We realised that we had footage from Episode VII, and we could use it in a new way."
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is released on Thursday, 19 December 19 in the UK and Friday, 20 December 20 in the US.
Sam is a freelance reporter and sub-editor who has a particular interest in movies, TV and music. After completing a journalism Masters at City University, London, Sam joined Digital Spy as a reporter, and has also freelanced for publications such as NME and Screen International. Sam, who also has a degree in Film, can wax lyrical about everything from Lord of the Rings to Love Is Blind, and is equally in his element crossing every 't' and dotting every 'i' as a sub-editor.
