Tragically, actress Carrie Fisher passed away after shooting her role in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. That meant old footage had to be used in The Rise of Skywalker to give Princess Leia a part to play in the movie before the character passed away quietly to help restore the light in her son, Ben Solo.
That happened on the planet where the Resistance had set up base, but new concept art reveals that another idea altogether was considered. As you can see below, in this version of Episode IX, Ajan Kloss - where Leia trained to be a Jedi with her brother, Luke Skywalker - is swapped for the Tantive IV. That was, of course, the ship we first met the Princess on during A New Hope's standout opening.
"An earlier version of the script placed [Leia]'s death in her stateroom on the [Tantive IV] in transit," artist Phil Saunders explained in a post shared to Instagram this week. "At the moment of her passing a comet was supposed to streak past her window. I shaped the stateroom to telegraph its location in the Blockade Runner, just under the cockpit in the hammerhead."
Take a look at this new Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker concept art below: