Daisy Ridley opens up about filming Star Wars without Carrie Fisher: 'It was definitely difficult'

Fisher appears posthumously in 'The Rise of Skywalker'

Daisy Ridley has opened up about the “difficult” process of filming Star Wars scenes without Carrie Fisher for The Rise of Skywalker.

Fisher, who died in December 2016, appears posthumously in the final instalment of the sequel trilogy, thanks to unused footage from The Force Awakens.

Ridley, who plays Rey in the franchise, told GQ that filming scenes in Fisher’s absence was “definitely difficult”.

“It was emotional doing it, because you’re also weirdly picturing her,” Ridley told the magazine.

“You’re not picturing how the scene is going to be.”

She added: “It’s really sad. And it’s going to be really sad. But also, it’s amazing that they have all this footage that is woven into the story in such a strange way.”

Rise of Skywalker will be released on 19 December in the UK and on 20 December in the US. Box office trackers have begun predicting whether Abrams’s film will beat Avengers: Endgame‘s opening record.

Richard E Grant, who joins the franchise in this ninth episode, has shared his emotional reaction after watching the film for the first time.

John Boyega, who stars as Finn, has recently taken responsibility for losing a The Rise of Skywalker script that later surfaced on eBay.