Why Leia should be recast

Image courtesy of www.bustle.com

Hello you, my name is Luca but you can call me Luca. I never grew up with the Star Wars movies, and I am waiting on the original trilogy to be restored to their original cuts before Lucas ruined them, but I have seen The Force Awakens and I loved it. I loved the characters, the feel of the storytelling as it very old school, the scale of the film, the incredible visuals, the energy, all of it made for such a great film.

I have also followed the other films that are being made which also exist within the Star Wars universe, such as Rogue One which I thought was amazing. I am highly anticipating the upcoming ones like the seemingly troubled Han Solo movie, potentially an Obi-Wan standalone with Ewan McGregor and of course, the two remaining episodic movies including this December's The Last Jedi.

However as you all know, the Star Wars universe was hit with some tragic news last December when the absolutely wonderful Carrie Fisher - who played Princess Leia - suddenly passed away after suffering a heart attack. I was distraught as I had only really come to know Carrie Fisher during the build up to The Force Awakens, so I can only imagine how upsetting it was to everyone who grew up watching her as Leia.

With the very unfortunate news that Fisher had passed, the question had to be asked eventually, what happens to the character? Because with the new trilogy not finished yet, what will happen to the Leia character, considering the highly sensitive nature of this question. The answer? With LucasFilm confirming that Leia had a very large role in the yet to start production Episode 9 and Fisher having completed all of her filming on The Last Jedi, they confirmed that Leia would be written out of Episode 9.. and to me, this is the worst thing they could do.

Remember my article about Hugh Jackman retiring as Wolverine? A lot of what I said there will probably be repeated here, and whilst the situations are not the same, they are very similar. Hugh Jackman didn't die whilst he was still playing the character of course, but after he capped off his time as a character that he had served for the fans after 17 years, I heard endless amounts of fans saying "NEVER HAVE ANOTHER WOLVERINE, IT'S DISRESPECTFUL!", which annoys the shit out of me.

So translating that same point into this regarding Leia, I know that LucasFilm doesn't want to get any backlash regarding this and so they have done a reactionary move to not get any bad press, and that isn't a bad thing on their part, they can't control public perception and reaction. However, when Paul Walker died during production of Furious 7, they didn't write him out at all and infact, gave him a proper send off by having his brothers stand in for him.

Paul Walker like Carrie Fisher, his life's work was on the Fast & Furious and in my eyes, anyone saying that the respectful thing to do is to write out the character or stop the franchise, it baffles me! I've always said that no film, story or character is built to service the actor, that the actor is brought in to service them, and when you have someone like Carrie Fisher who spent a lifetime bringing to life this beloved character, it is obviously devastating to lose her, but does that mean we should not have Leia at all?

These characters are immortalised for all of us, they will exist longer than we ever will and they exist for all of us. I am not saying that these actors are interchangeable and expendable because they are not, and I know a lot of people will see what I am saying as undermining Carrie Fisher's legacy but again, but I know I am not. I know I cannot speak for Fisher but honouring this amazing character and servicing the fans who have watched these movies for over 40 years now, to just write her out for Episode 9 to me, completely undermines her legacy.

Again, I am not saying that Fisher was interchangeable because had she lived, no doubt in my mind would anyone have been for recasting Leia but I am here to tell you, I know who can finish Leia's story in the Star Wars universe for Episode 9, Holly Hunter.

Image courtesy of www.thedailybeast.com

Hunter may or may not be a name you remember but to list off what IMDb claims are her biggest credits, The Incredibles, Batman V Superman, and her Academy Award winning performance in The Piano, as well as recently appearing in The Big Sick. I don't know about you but I think this is champagne casting, as Hunter has proven herself as being a great actress in her own right but she's the right age, looks very similar to Fisher and sounds just like her, it's uncanny. I believe that Hunter would do more than just an imitation, she could bring a vulnerability, leadership and a quality that Fisher also oozed in spades, charisma.

I do feel the need to reiterate, this isn't me saying that Carrie Fisher is easily replaced because she isn't, she will always be our Princess Leia, but let's honour Fisher's memory and legacy by carrying it over the finishing line to finish out the new trilogy. Please do not for one second think that I am trying to dishonour Fisher, just because if you think by not finishing out the story with the character she spent her whole life serving is honouring her, then at least our intentions are the same, but our methods are different.

As for these rumours about a standalone Leia film, I think this is a terrific idea also. Feel free to have an opinion on this as well, outside of this whole casting someone to play Leia in Episode 9 is the possibility of a movie set around Leia aged 13 being granted political power and influence and being on her way to earning her PhD at age 19. Quite the unique story and honouring exactly what made Leia an idol to all the women who have grown up both with her and afterwards too.

Stranger Things' actress Millie Bobby Brown is apparently in line to portray Leia if such a movie were to happen, and whilst I haven't seen much of her since I haven't seen Stranger Things yet (Please don't hurt me, I think I'll do so before season two is released), I hear she's brilliant. Plus, she's the right age for the timeframe of the movie and looks spot on as far as looking like Carrie Fisher and Natalie Portman (Who portrayed Luke and Leia's mother in the prequels).

As I've said countless times throughout this article, Carrie Fisher is no longer with us and it still upsets me considering how loveable and just truly amazing she really was. I know this will not make LucasFilm see eye-to-eye with me and Leia will be unfortunately written out of Episode 9 because the general public believes it is disrespectful to 'replace' Fisher when really, it isn't replacing at all.

I can only speak for myself here but if I die before something I had put my life, soul and hard work into had been completed, I would like to use this article that will hopefully still be around when I do get round to dying, to let the world know that I want it finished. Because we are what we leave behind, our legacy lives on. Steve Jobs didn't ask for Apple to shut down completely before he passed away, he made sure that it would continue to thrive in his absence, and I am certain that none of you want what you had set out a lifetime to achieve to then be halted because you had passed away, don't let your legacy die with you.

So if anything, I hope this article has at least opened your eyes to the mentality of how it is disrespectful to recast Leia because it isn't, and I do hope somehow LucasFilm see it fit to finish out Leia's chapter. As for Carrie Fisher, Rest In Peace you wonderful woman, you made me laugh so much when I went looking at YouTube clips of you, we miss you.

Until we meet again everyone,
Luca.