With all due respect to her memory, I think Carrie would appreciate her character getting the end that fit the story. If in IX, Leia was supposed to be murdered or betrayed, I can’t see how she wouldn’t have had wanted that still.

But I don’t think this was ever the direction they were heading. I think Leia’s role was to bring back Kylo to the light, in a very conflicting and heartbreaking moment most certainly saved for EP IX.

I think Han was the sacrifice for EP 7. Luke the sacrifice for EP 8. And Leia the one to survive, bring balance, and restore the Jedi Order Luke never dared to try restore again.

I can imagine this scene in my head, in which Luke is dead and Rey defeated - Snoke believing all Jedi now to be extinct, with Rey and Kylo - having tried to overthrow Snoke - both laying wounded on the floor infront of him. And then, in a “what the fuck are you doing here?” reaction from Snoke as Leia suddenly walks into the room from out of nowhere, Leia suddenly wreaks mental force havoc on Snoke, killing him in the most brutal force usage scene we have ever seen on screen, crushing and slamming him from wall to wall until every bone is broken in his twisted, pale body, only for Leia to give the biggest one-liner ever: “I’m not afraid of the Dark Side, Lord Snoke - I relish it in the favor of my son”, crushing Snoke’s head right off with the very swift movement of the Force from her hands, leaving his wretched body more pale and lifeless than ever on the dusty floor.

Now that, would be the way to end Leia’s arc.