Many of us are still lamenting the loss of our beloved princess. I know all of her co-workers are still beside themselves with grief. We all wish everyday since the Tuesday after Christmas, was a bad dream that we all will wake up from. Sadly that will not happen. We must endure and ensure every future generation knows the brilliance and beauty of Carrie Fisher (our Princess Leia). Aside from grief, we are all curious how will Star Wars survive without her?
WARNING: If you haven’t seen The Force Awakens (which is unheard-of) and you have, miraculously, avoided spoilers then stop reading. I need to talk about details of the movie to further this rumination.
Star Wars Without Princess Leia
It’s difficult to imagine Star Wars without Princess Leia. We were hopeful when she was stable, but when she passed you could have knocked us all over with a feather. Disney did confirm that all of her scenes for Episode VIII were complete but it still begs the question, what happens in Episode IX? After killing off Han it creates and interesting conundrum in regards to Kylo Ren’s story.
Kathleen Kennedy and the Lucasfilm team have a meeting coming up to discuss Leia’s future in the franchise. I do not expect that they will share her fate with us until the release of Episode VIII or Episode IX. I think their smartest move would be to kill Leia off-screen. Since Episode VIII is now in post-production, it’s possible they could edit something in at the very end. Personally I hope they edit in a dedication rather than an off-screen death.
The right move, I think, would be to write an off-screen death for the beginning of Episode IX and work it into Kylo Ren’s story. While Rogue One was fairly successful bringing Peter Cushing (aka Tarkin) back to life; I don’t think digitally inserting Carrie Fisher for all of Episode IX would be the right thing to do.
We’re Grieving. It’s a process.
Star Wars fans, the world over, will, beyond a doubt, miss our beloved princess. Episode VIII is going to be difficult to watch knowing its the last time we will see her. Granted it will nearly have been a year by the time the movie comes out and we will all have accepted her death by that time. I’m sure seeing her again will bring back some fairly painful emotions. I know that might sound ridiculous but, just as Robin Williams, she was a pillar of our childhood. I saw Rogue One the day after her passing and seeing her at the end, despite the fact it was digital, left me verklempt.
In a way, however, it’s almost poetic that Carrie Fisher’s last movie is Star Wars. She has done several other great movies (ex: Blues Brothers, The burbs, etc) but everyone knows her, and will remember her, eternally as Princess Leia. Disney has been far more successful and true to the franchise since they took the reins. I think Kathleen Kennedy will do the right thing. Star Wars will never be the same, but she will always be our princess.
/MTFBWY
The Force. It calls to you. Just let it in.
Remember last year when I talked about the 
I could accomplish so much more if I only had minions!
The screen is a magic medium. It has such power that it can retain interest as it conveys emotions and moods that no other art form can hope to tackle.
According to 
If you’re a Star Wars troglodyte (aka a Trekkie – j/k Trekkies!), or just a newbie you may have no clue as to the story Rogue One will tell. I’ve also been reading a lot of fan theories trying to connect characters in Rogue One to The Force Awakens. While I admire the hypothesizing, I was never under the impression that there would be a lineage connection between any of the new faces in Rogue One with any character in The Force Awakens. All of these fan theories has given credence to how successful the story is in The Force Awakens. If the movie hadn’t been so cryptic as to the origins of Rey and Snoke, people wouldn’t be trying to find the answers in trailer subtext.