Star Wars: It turns out Princess Leia got a PhD at 19
An old piece of trivia about the galaxy's favourite royalty has recently come to the delighted attention of the internet
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The Star Wars universe is so vast in its mythologies and histories that it's easy for certain morsels of information to get buried under the weight of it all. For example, the fact that Carrie Fisher's Leia Organa had actually earned a PhD by the time she was 19.
A part of her story that was actually revealed by George Lucas all the way back in 2004, on the director's commentary for A New Hope, but which has only recently surfaced on the internet thanks to Twitter user Becca Harrison. She, in turn, posted a quote from the book Superwomen: Gender, Power, and Representation by Carolyn Cocca.
The book quotes Lucas as stating that Leia is, "young, nineteen, the same age as what Luke was supposed to be, but instead of being kind of an idealistic naïve farm boy from the far reaches of the netherlands, she's like a very sophisticated, urbanised ruler. a Senator, so she's a politician, she's accomplished, she's graduated, got her PhD at nineteen and she rules people and is in charge."
"[I needed an actress] who could be young and play with a lot of authority... and push these guys around."
Of course, who knows how long PhDs take on Alderaan, but it's still an impressive qualification; further proof that whether as Princess, General, or Doctor, Leia truly is one formidable onscreen character.
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