Carrie Fisher will not be digitally recreated in next Star Wars film, Disney boss says

Carrie Fisher's character will not be digitally recreated in the next Star Wars film following her death, the boss of Disney has confirmed.

Bob Iger, the movie studio's chief executive, said Fisher appears "throughout" Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi and nothing would be changed using special effects.

Fisher, who shot to fame as Princess Leia in Star Wars, died aged 60 in December after suffering a heart attack on a flight from London to Los Angeles.

Iger told a University of Southern California conference: "We're not changing 'eight' to deal with her passing.

"Her performance, which we're really pleased with, remains as it was."

Last year's spin-off movie Rogue One: A Star Wars Story featured characters which were "digitally created", including the late Peter Cushing, but Iger said that would not happen with Fisher.

Iger also revealed details of the forthcoming Star Wars spin-off film about a young Han Solo, which will show how the character gets his name, meets Chewbacca and acquires the Millennium Falcon.

"That picks up Han Solo when he was 18 years old and takes him through to when he was 24," he said.

Iger said Disney was now discussing developing Star Wars stories beyond Episode 9 in the series.

"We've got a creative time thinking about what could be another decade and a half of Star Wars' stories," he said.

Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi will be released in December.