A Disney spokeswoman on Tuesday declined to comment on whether Leia would appear in films post- "Episode VIII."
TMZ was reporting a Lucasfilm official saying that Fisher had “absolutely wrapped” her part in ‘Episode VIII.’
Episode 9 director Colin Trevorrow has stated in a an interview earlier in the year that he was excited "to find new places that we can take" the characters of Princess Leia and her on-screen twin brother Luke Skywalker. "They are icons, but they're also people that have suffered tremendous loss and challenge over the course of all these films," Trevorrow told Entertainment Tonight.
Let us not forget that Fisher also appears briefly as Leia at the end of "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," as a CGI recreation. In that same movie they also digitized the late British actor Peter Cushing, who died in 1994, and who played Death Star commander Grand Moff Tarkin in the original series. The film used CGI for the astounding effect which left some fans cold and distanced.
The associated Press says that "Under a 1985 California law, filmmakers must get permission from the estate of a celebrity to use his or her image for up to 70 years after death."
We are entering, or have already entered, the digital "new age" in movies. Disney has just led the way with "Rogue One" and their treatment of Cushing and Fisher. I see no reason for Disney to stop this. The problem is can we actually accept such a concept? and will the CGI be better in a few years to get away with such a dilemma?
Creepy, right? Look at the coldness in those eyes. Is there any sign of life? Although, the technology they used in Benjamin Button was on a living actor and not a dead one. So, who knows. That film did it way better than "Rogue One," because they had much more to work with. The "Cushing effect" will likely be used by many more films in the years to come. If there's anything groundbreaking about "Rogue One" it's that.