Three Years Later, Star Wars’ Younger Princess Leia Opens Up About The Pressures Of Interesting To The Fanbase

Obi-Wan Kenobi star Vivien Lyra Blair has opened up about what it was like for her to step into such an enormous franchise and shield Carrie Fisher’s and Princess Leia Organa’s beloved Star Wars legacies. The Obi-Wan Kenobi sequence could have at first been about Obi-Wan’s hardships in exile, however it additionally launched us to a model of Princess Leia we’d by no means seen earlier than.

Whereas Carrie Fisher’s Leia was simply 19 years outdated within the retitled A New Hope, Vivien Lyra Blair’s model of the character was solely 10 years outdated, a mischievous, wise-cracking, hopeful, and type younger Princess on the cusp of changing into one of many Rise up’s biggest leaders.

Blair had a troublesome stability to strike. How do you present individuals a brand new model of such an iconic character whereas honoring the late Carrie Fisher’s legacy and pleasing Star Wars’ notoriously difficult-to-please fanbase? As Blair lately defined, it definitely took a toll.

Throughout an interview with psychological well being advocates Extra Than You See, Blair was requested: “Did you’ve gotten any anxious emotions taking part in a personality that’s such an enormous icon to a era? How did that really feel, interested by moving into that?” The younger actress responded with touching honesty about what it was like for her to change into a part of such an enormous franchise:

“Oh yeah, I used to be terrified. I used to be this little, tiny 9-year-old on this big fanbase. I used to be terrified that this was such a beloved character, and such a beloved actress, too, [who] had initially performed her. I didn’t wish to do something that might presumably dishonor her legacy. So I used to be like, so terrified, and nonetheless am, truthfully. Nonetheless in interviews, I get terrified I’m going to say the mistaken factor. I’ve earlier than; there was a complete latest factor with a clip I had stated in an interview that had been taken out of context, and now a bunch of individuals hate me.

It is sort of terrifying, continually, that I’ve this big fanbase that I really feel the necessity to please. And it’s a fanbase that’s existed so long as my mother and father have been alive, actually. Not even since I used to be born, however since my mother and father had been born. It’s been such a big fanbase that like, it’s terrifying to be part of the movie sequence that these individuals worship, you recognize?”

Blair’s Anxiousness About Her Princess Leia Function Is Heartbreaking But Unsurprising

The Star Wars Fanbase Is Divided Over Most Star Wars Tasks

Blair’s continued fears about her position within the Star Wars franchise are fully comprehensible. She’s not the primary younger actor to have been pressured by the Star Wars fanbase, and he or she sadly will not be the final, both. Daisy Ridley, Kelly Marie Tran, Moses Ingram, Amandla Stenberg, and extra have all confronted the viciousness of Star Wars’ most crucial followers.

At simply 9 years outdated, that should have been an enormous enterprise, and the stress is understandably nonetheless monumental at 13, three years after Obi-Wan Kenobi launched on Disney+. Blair’s position as a younger Leia was surprisingly well-hidden earlier than the present got here out; I can solely think about how she should have felt within the lead-up to the sequence’ premiere, and her anxiousness in regards to the followers’ response.

As Blair stated, Leia is one in every of Star Wars’ and movie historical past’s most iconic characters. Think about carrying that sort of weight in your shoulders at such a younger age?

Our Take On Vivien Lyra Blair’s Princess Leia In Obi-Wan Kenobi

Leia Was Integral To Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Story

Few younger actresses might have taken on such a serious position with that sort of grace. Vivien Lyra Blair’s efficiency in Obi-Wan Kenobi was enjoyable, joyful, and poignant, and her rapport with Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan was incredible to witness. As author and producer Joby Harold defined, Leia was the one character who might have pushed Obi-Wan to go away his publish on Tatooine.

With out that journey, the present would not have had sufficient story to inform; we would have liked him to have a purpose to reconnect with the Pressure and discover hope once more. Who higher to take action than the very lady who would later describe Obi-Wan as her “solely hope,” the one character simply as essential to the galaxy’s destiny as Luke?

Blair’s position as Princess Leia in Obi-Wan Kenobi was a spotlight of the present, offering the sunshine Obi-Wan wanted, and he or she deserves to take pleasure in her time in Star Wars to the fullest.

Supply: Extra Than You See on Instagram

Obi-Wan Kenobi

5/10

Launch Date

2022 – 2022-00-00

Community

Disney+

Showrunner

Joby Harold

Writers

Stuart Beattie