Princess Leia death strongly hinted in new Star Wars 8: The Last Jedi trailer
'Let the past die. Kill it if you have to.'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.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.
Follow Independent Culture on Facebook
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments