How can that be? Well, J.J. knew that a digital version of Fisher wouldn't be right but remembered that there was extra footage of Fisher from 2015's "The Force Awakens". He decided to incorporate that into the new film.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Abrams said, "It's hard to even talk about it without sounding like I'm being some kind of cosmic spiritual goofball but it felt like we suddenly had found the impossible answer to the impossible question." He went on to say that scenes were written to fit around the footage so that things would make sense.
"It was a bizarre kind of left side/right side of the brain sort of Venn diagram thing, of figuring out how to create the puzzle based on the pieces we had," he said.
"There are moments in this movie where Carrie is there and I really do feel there is an element of the uncanny, spiritual, you know, classic Carrie, that it would have happened this way, because somehow it worked. And I never thought it would," said Abrams.
"The Rise of Skywalker" is slated for a December 20, 2019 release.
