Mark Hamill, a smart human being, says it’d be tough to recast Princess Leia in Star Wars IX
By Mia Johnson
Mark Hamill spoke openly about what should be done about the role of Princess Leia. Does that include the petition for Meryl Streep to take the role?
We all know Mark Hamill to be a generally open and candid guy, so it doesn’t surprise us that he has a few thoughts on what should happen to Princess Leia come Star Wars: Episode IX.
In an interview with Collider, Hamill said that recasting Princess Leia by the next film maybe wouldn’t be such a good idea.
Hamill says he doesn’t exactly know what the plans are for Fisher’s iconic character. However, he confirmed she was originally supposed to be a big part of Episode IX.
“Just the way Han was more prominent in seven, Luke was more prominent in eight, we assumed that Leia would be more prominent in nine — especially since the dynamic of having Kylo Ren as her son,” Hamill explained.
Movie characters have been recast from time to time. (Terrance Howard might regret not hanging in there for Iron Man 2 right now.) Still, when an actor becomes so attached to a role that they become one and the same, it almost feels wrong to recast the role. Hamill felt the same way.
“I think it’d be tough recasting only because she’s so indelibly linked with that character,” he said. “That’s got to be a really — not an insurmountable problem — but I know that the script had been developed enough so that when we lost her, they had to go back to square one. But she’s irreplaceable, as far as I’m concerned. ”
Some eager fans think that Meryl Streep could play Princess Leia in Episode IX, going so far as creating a petition calling for her casting. Would Hamill support Streep taking the role? Who’s to say, but probably not given the way he adored Fisher.
In the interview, Hamill also ruled out the possibility that Leia could be a computer-generated character, as they did with her and Peter Cushing in Rogue One.
Rogue One did a fairly okay job at creating a CGI version Carrie Fisher as a young Leia. That could be the one exception where a different actress filled her role — thanks Ingvild Deila. Just think about how young Han and Lando were recast for Solo. That’s definitely better than having a whole movie filled with cartoon-looking CGI characters.
With Rian Johnson constantly having to defend the choices he made in The Last Jedi, it’s pretty clear that J.J. Abrams has a lot on his hands to tie up this trilogy. Leia will no doubt be an integral part of the final episode. How that will happen though is totally up to Abrams.
You can watch the full interview below to see what Hamill had to say, including what’s going on with his apparent Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 cameo.
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Do you think that Meryl Streep or another actress should take on Fisher’s role for Episode IX? Or is it best to have a final send-off for the princess-turned-general Leia Organa?