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'Star Wars': The real 'Last Jedi' was meant to be Carrie Fisher's Leia Organa, reveals the late actor's brother

Todd Fisher reveals details of a much grander story arc for Leia: "She was going to be the big payoff in the final film"

Prior to her unfortunate passing in 2016, Leia Organa's (Carrie Fisher) role in 'The Last Jedi' and the upcoming 'Rise of Skywalker' movie was meant to be very different from what turned out. 'The Last Jedi' would have seen Leia finally take her rightful place as a Jedi warrior of the Skywalker family. 

These new details are from an interview Yahoo! Entertainment did with the late Carrie Fisher's brother, Todd Fisher. "She was going to be the big payoff in the final film," said Fisher.

"She was going to be the last Jedi, so to speak." That payoff would have been big indeed. Fans have wondered for years why, as someone with a connection to the Force that’s been established since 'The Empire Strikes Back', Leia has never shown any inclination towards using her Force powers.

As Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) sacrifices his life in 'The Last Jedi', Leia Organa truly would have been the last of the Jedi remaining. 

While it would have been late in the character's life to begin training, that should be no bar to her considering Obi-Wan kept fighting right to the very end. "People used to say to me, 'Why is it that Carrie never gets a lightsaber and chops up some bad guys?'," Todd says.

"Obi-Wan was in his prime when he was Carrie's age!" Sadly, this arc is not something the movies will be able to bring to life.

There is a very limited amount of footage that can be used for Leia's role in 'The Rise of Skywalker' and the makers of the movie plan to make every moment count.

"They had eight minutes of footage," Todd said. "They grabbed every frame and analyzed it... and then reverse-engineered it and [got] it into the story the right way. It's kind of magical."

'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' opens in theaters on December 20.