Re: Star Wars: Episode VIII (Pre-release)
My thoughts for what they're worth on progressing Leia's story in Ep IX.
The way I think about this is entirely down to how important her role was to be in IX. If it was minor then yes have her exit ALIVE early enough - she decides to retire and awaits in a safe place until the finale. Someone here suggested said that could be done with a hologram scene to avoid any 'digital stuff'. There's no need to kill her off. It would be an incredible disservice and down right lazy to Leia's character to do that, especially in between episodes in the opening crawl.
Yes, Carrie played her and owned her and it's gut wrenchingly sad that she's gone but it doesn't mean she has to die in the Star Wars universe. This isn't real life. She should be allowed to finish her story arc. From what Kathleen Kennedy said in a recent interview, it look's like the usual Skywalker episode structure would end after this anyway.
If her role was to be major, for example if she has anything to do with the redemption / demise of Kylo Ren, then I think it's entirely fair for the film makers to use a combination of less screen-time, doubles, rehashed footage from VII and VIII, recast and acnowledge this with a few heartfelt lines of dialogue, and yes some digital manipulation if that's necessary. I can't imagine for a second that anyone at LF wants to make an uncanny valley Leia for the sake of it and they will want to do it as tastefully as possible. If that's what they have to do to give Leia the ending she was always intended then I would be entirely supporting them and be able to suspend my disbelief for a few mins of screen time... and then probably sob my heart out for days.
much love
M
For the record - I thought the work on Tarkin was remarkable - what a huge accomplishment to the artist who managed to create such a thing. It's childish to make throw away comments labeling it as cr*p. Every iteration of technology has it's limits and will progress accordingly. If we all thought like that we'd still be watching silent films. However, I also think it wasn't entirely necessary to have him on screen that much. He wasn't critical to the story and could have had more impact had he have only ever been seen as a reflection in the glass, for example. My point being if Leia is essential to the story then it's the right thing to do - but keep it short and sweet.