Star Wars: Episode IX will begin filming at London’s Pinewood Studios on August 1, 2018. J.J. Abrams returns to direct the final installment of the Skywalker saga. Abrams co-wrote the screenplay with Chris Terrio.
Returning cast members include Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, and Billie Lourd. Joining the cast of Episode IX are Naomi Ackie and Richard E. Grant, who will be joined by veteran Star Wars actors Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, and Billy Dee Williams, who will reprise his role as Lando Calrissian.
The role of Leia Organa will once again be played by Carrie Fisher, using previously unreleased footage shot for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. “We desperately loved Carrie Fisher,” says Abrams. “Finding a truly satisfying conclusion to the Skywalker saga without her eluded us. We were never going to recast, or use a CG character. With the support and blessing from her daughter, Billie, we have found a way to honor Carrie’s legacy and role as Leia in Episode IX by using unseen footage we shot together in Episode VII.”
I feel like at this point Carrie Fisher has ascended past just being a revered figure and has kinda passed into myth/goddess level. I don’t just mean people building personal memorials or shrines to her. I mean that there is a genuine, dedicated group of people living their lives in honor of her and who she was and her values, giving thanks to her, asking her for guidance and protection. Carrie Fisher and Princess Leia are not just cultural symbols or inspirations, but as one entity they are seen to watch over and safeguard her ‘followers.’ There are things these followers do in her honor: endeavoring to become more confident and kind, following her footsteps by raising awareness about mental health, speaking out on behalf of minorities and the undervalued. They do these things because these are things Carrie did and entreated others to do. This, essentially, fulfills the classic definition of a religious organization.
Congratulations, Carrie. You’re a goddess in our eyes.
remember the white dress i wore all through that film? george came up to me the first day of filming, took one look at the dress and said: “you can’t wear a bra under that dress.”
“ok, i’ll bite,” i said. “why?” and he said: “because… there’s no underwear in space.”
he said it with such conviction. like he had been to space and looked around and he didn’t see any bras or panties anywhere.
he explained. “you go into space and you become weightless. then your body expands but your bra doesn’t, so you get strangled by your own underwear.”
i think that this would make for a fantastic obituary. i tell my younger friends that no matter how i go, i want it reported that i drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra.
rest in peace, carrie fisher (october 21st, 1956 – december 27th, 2016)
I know I told this, sort of, in August at the time that it happened, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot today.
I was working at Wizard World Chicago in August 2016, so I had some extra money to spend as I was on an exhibitor pass. I couldn’t pass up a Carrie Fisher autograph so I bought a ticket, but I waited too long and ended up in group B on Saturday afternoon.
Group B was supposed to start at 5:00 PM. I got in line at 4:30 and waited. And waited. And waited. The convention floor closed at 7 PM; I (hi, line friends) waited. She’d been signing autographs, more or less, since 10 AM. We could see Gary next to her, his tongue sticking out.
I got to the front of the line at around eight o’clock at night. I was tired; I’d been working the booth all day and perpetual cheerfulness is exhausting. I can only imagine how tired she must have been. “No personalizations,” said the assistant as I handed her the book I’d brought to have signed, which I understood (I was the front of Group B, and there were easily another fifty people at least behind me).
A minute later, I was standing in front of Carrie Fisher. I’m pretty sure, being a creature of vast social awkwardness, I made a stupid joke about being on the wrong side (I was wearing my Imperial Officer uniform).
She looked up at me, opened the book, and said, “They’re trying to stymie me. I will not be stymied. Who would you like this made out to?”
I will not be stymied. A life in five words, and all I can say is that I’m so, so very glad I stayed in line.
As far as life mottos go, you can do a lot worse than “I will not be stymied.”
“When my mother was about 7, my grandmother locked her in the closet. So, after my mom had been in the closet for about an hour, she asked my grandmother for a glass of water. My grandmother, naturally, said ‘Why?’ and my mother said ‘Because I’ve spit all over your dresses and now I’ve run out of spit and I wanna spit all over your shoes.’ These are the people I hail from.” — Carrie Fisher
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