Carrie Fisher to appear in Star Wars Episode IX, with 'support and blessing' of her daughter
News was announced along with details of who else is set to appear in the upcoming film
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The late Carrie Fisher has been named among the cast for the next Star Wars film, in a surprise announcement that features a mix of familiar and new faces.
The Princess Leia star died suddenly in 2016 aged 60, but will appear in Episode IX using previously unseen footage that was recorded for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
“We desperately loved Carrie Fisher,” director JJ Abrams, who will direct Episode IX, said in a statement.
“Finding a truly satisfying conclusion to the Skywalker saga without her eluded us. We were never going to recast, or use a CG (computer-generated) character.
"With the support and blessing from her daughter, Billie, we have found a way to honor Carrie’s legacy and role as Leia in Episode IX by using unseen footage we shot together in Episode VII,” he added, referring to The Force Awakens.
Also revealed in the cast news: Billy Dee Williams, 81, will reprise his role as Lando Calrissian, Mark Hamill will return as Luke Skywalker, and Richard E Grant will join the cast.
Hamill is set to be joined by fellow series veteran Anthony Daniels who plays the android C-3PO, and is the only actor to have appeared in all of the franchise's major films.
Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Lupita Nyong'o and Domhnall Gleeson will all return for the new film after starring in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
British actress Naomi Ackie, who starred in the 2017 film Lady Macbeth, will join the cast in an as yet unnamed role.
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Disney and Lucasfilm announced last year that the release date for Episode IX had been pushed back six months to December 2019, and that Abrams had been hired to write and direct after original director Colin Trevorrow's departure.
Filming for Episode IX, which does not yet have a title, will begin in London on Wednesday.
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