First image of Leia in The Rise Of Skywalker

Fans are finally getting their first look at Leia in The Rise Of Skywalker film premiering December this year.

With the untimely and tragic death of Carrie Fisher, fans have been concerned about how director J. J. Abrams will incorporate Leia into the final film. The CGI clip of young Leia in Rogue One was unpopular with many fans. Thankfully, for The Rise Of Skywalker, Abrams plans to use already captured footage of Carrie Fisher from the previous films. Fans are anxious to see how this will all work out.

Vanity Fair recently released a behind the scenes look at the upcoming film, complete with a set of images from its production. The only photo of Leia portrayed her on a screen in the background while composer John Williams led the orchestra. Within minutes, redditors (such as SirRidley) enhanced the image in the background, showing Leia in a jungle with a stoic look on her face. In fact, this image of Leia in The Rise Of Skywalker is almost an exact match from the shot of her sending Rey off in pursuit of Skywalker at the end of The Force Awakens.

Enhanced image of Leia in The Rise Of Skywalker
Enhanced image provided by Redditor SirRidley
Leia at the end of The Force Awakens
Leia at the end of The Force Awakens

Leia in The Rise Of Skywalker

This first photo is evidence of the care Abrams is taking to incorporate Leia into the story using existing footage. Abrams is confident that this approach will allow him to tell the story despite the loss of Carrie Fisher. In the interview, Abrams said, “It’s hard to even talk about it without sounding like I’m being some kind of cosmic spiritual goofball, but it felt like we suddenly had found the impossible answer to the impossible question.”

With comments like this from Abrams, I am extremely excited to see Leia again on the big screen in The Rise Of Skywalker. It isn’t that much of a leap for a die-hard Star Wars fan to believe in cosmic forces at play to make this happen.

While the memory of Carrie Fisher lives on in our hearts, her legacy lives on as she will momentarily come back to life in Star Wars: Episode IX.