Though everyone wasn't expecting a return, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will feature another appearance of Carrie Fisher as General Leia, and it's said that the film will be utilizing unused footage of her from The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. Thanks to StarWarsNewsNet, we have some new details on how Leia is brought to life in the movie.
According to a source of the site, the movie will not be using digital doubles like in Rogue One, but will instead combine Fisher's face with a body double using CGI. The source said:
"They are combining clips. There will also be no horrible digi-double that was used for Leia in Rogue One. This is all being done in what we call "comp." There will be some digital work done (aging, hair) so her face and body match, but not the uncanny valley like Tarkin in Rogue One. They will be changing her hair or adding wrinkles as she looked very different between TFA and TLJ."
What's interesting is that the movie will also be using some clips that were actually already used onscreen. The thing is, since Leia looked a lot younger in The Force Awakens, they needed to add some wrinkles to her for some scenes in TROS.
While I was completely fine if they had Leia die offscreen, I hope J.J. Abrams had a good reason for sticking to some of this unused footage. I'm sure a lot of fans will walk in knowing that Leia's entire role in the movie is not supposed to be for TROS, but if they manage to make everything feel natural, I guess the movie would have already done its job.
Catch Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in theaters Dec. 20.
See Also: Star Wars: Chewbacca Actor Continues to Support #MakeSolo2Happen