Rian Johnson on Leia in space…
Rian Johnson, the film’s writer and director, said that the idea came from LucasFilm boss Kathleen Kennedy, who remembered Luke telling Leia in Return Of The Jedi about her own Force abilities.
“She kept asking, ‘Leia’s a Skywalker, Luke gave her this speech in Jedi and told her basically, ‘You have this potential, too.’,” he told Entertainment Weekly.
“It seemed to me it would be a really emotionally impactful thing to see her use it.”
He added: “I liked the idea it would be an instinctual thing. This would be more like stories you hear about parents of toddlers who get caught under cars and they get Hulk strength and lift the car up. It would be something in these final moments to show that she’s not done with the fight. And like a drowning person pulling herself back, that’s how it manifests itself for the first time in her.”