Princess Leia death strongly hinted in new Star Wars 8: The Last Jedi trailer

'Let the past die. Kill it if you have to.'

There has been much speculation over how General Leia will be written out of the Star Wars franchise following Carrie Fisher's death, but today's new trailer for The Last Jedi appears to try and curb this by making it very plain.

"Let the past die - kill it if you have to," Kylo Ren is heard saying, as shots of him looking emotional as he flies his ship during a battle are cut together with close-ups of his mother.

Ren's thumb hovers over the trigger as Leia's ship is targeted - apparently sensing her through the Force - before he appears to depress it off-screen.

This element of the trailer is incredibly on the nose, so either Ren genuinely is going to kill his mother as he did his father, or it is intentionally completely misleading.

We know that the plot of The Last Jedi was not changed in light of Fisher's passing, but that doesn't mean how it is trailed and promoted hasn't been.

Perhaps Leia was always going to die in this film, but the loss of Fisher meant that, instead of guarding it as a spoiler, Lucasfilm decided to make it known up front, as Leia can not feature in Episode IX for obvious reasons.

Then again, simple misdirection is still on the cards, Luke Skywalker being heard saying moments later in the trailer: "This is not going to go the way you think."

Star Wars: The Last Jedi opens in UK cinemas on 14 December 2017.

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