Abrams continues to assert her importance to the story, and that the idea to write her death into the opening scrawl was quickly dismissed.
Thankfully, director J.J. Abrams is here to put our minds at ease, with an assurance that Leia’s role is very significant, even comparable to the roles of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi respectively.
And I would say that her story, her role, the importance of Leia, I would argue is as profound as what you’re saying even though she wasn’t here.”
These are some very welcome comments from Abrams, as it is now well known that the planned pattern had always been for each new movie in the trilogy to focus on one of the original characters, with The Rise of Skywalker all set to be Leia’s movie.