Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Five ways to win back the haters

5. Celebrate Carrie Fisher

And by that we mean, really celebrate her. Harrison Ford returned to the role of Han Solo in The Force Awakens and died a heroic, emotional death that crushed fans. Mark Hamill donned Luke Skywalker’s robes once again and somehow became the hero of The Last Jedi instead of Daisy Ridley’s Rey. So what about Carrie Fisher’s General Leia?

Following her untimely death, fans worried that General Leia would not appear in the final film, but the production team has managed to cobble together some unused footage of Fisher, and she will feature in The Rise of Skywalker. We can’t expect much, but can Carrie Fisher and Leia’s legacies be provided the gravitas they rightly deserve?

Most fans were beside themselves with excitement when we learned that Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron idolized Leia, because even in the 21st century, men aren’t allowed to look up to women. But all that came to nought when Poe disobeyed Leia’s direct order in the first 10 minutes of The Last Jedi and led to the deaths of the Resistance’s dwindling forces.

Whatever Abrams and team do in The Rise of Skywalker, they need to somehow place Leia as the hero we’ve always known her to be – give her a moment in the spotlight, and we don’t mean a Mary Poppins-style scene where she uses the Force. Leia is an incredible leader and a fighter — make those aspects of her the cornerstone of Fisher’s Star Wars legacy.