Princess Leia – or to use her preferred title, General Leia – is getting on in years when she makes her final big screen Star Wars appearance in 2019’s Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. But just how old is Princess Leia in The Rise of Skywalker?
Related: Star Wars: How Old Is Luke Skywalker in A New Hope?
Princess Leia’s Age in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Explained
Princess Leia Organa is 54 in Star Wars – Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. This is never stated on screen, however, it’s easy to figure out by referencing the wider Star Wars canon. We see Leia and her twin brother, Luke Skywalker, as newborns in Star Wars – Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, so first we need to confirm when that flick goes down.
Multiple official sources (including 2023’s Star Wars: Timelines) place Revenge of the Sith in 19 BBY – or 19 years before Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope. They also put Rise of Skywalker in 35 ABY, which equates to 35 years after A New Hope. So, with a bit of simple math, we can determine that Princess Leia was 54 years old when she died.
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Princess Leia’s actor, the late Carrie Fisher, was actually slightly older than that in Leia’s final scenes. As Fisher died before principal photography on The Rise of Skywalker kicked off, director J.J. Abrams recycled unused footage from Star Wars – Episode VII: The Force Awakens to create her final performance as Leia. Fisher was 58 during The Force Awakens‘ shoot, so that’s how old she is in The Rise of Skywalker, too.
Abrams also included a flashback scene in The Rise of Skywalker depicting the much younger Princess Leia’s Jedi training. Here, Fisher’s daughter Billie Lourd doubles for her mother, with Lourd’s head replaced with a CGI recreation of Fisher’s in post-production. Leia’s appearance during the flashback is based on Fisher’s likeness circa Star Wars – Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. This tracks with the established Star Wars timeline, which indicates that Leia’s training wrapped up a year after Return of the Jedi (tops), when Leia was 23 or 24.
How Old is Princess Leia in Other Star Wars Media?
That’s Princess Leia’s age in The Rise of Skywalker covered – but what about the rest of her life? Here’s how old Princess Leia is across all her appearances in canonical Star Wars movies and TV shows:
- Star Wars – Episode III: Revenge of the Sith – 0
- Obi-Wan Kenobi – 10
- Star Wars Rebels Season 2 – 16
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – 19
- Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope – 19
- Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back – 22
- Star Wars – Episode VI: Return of the Jedi – 23
- Star Wars – Episode VII: The Force Awakens – 53
- Star Wars – Episode VIII: The Last Jedi – 53
- Star Wars – Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker – 54
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Wondering why Leia’s age doesn’t change between The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi? It’s because the latter picks up immediately after the latter ends, so Leia (like the rest of The Last Jedi‘s returning characters) barely ages between the two films. The same goes for Rogue One and A New Hope; Leia is only a few hours older (at most) when A New Hope kicks off, depending on how long it took Darth Vader to catch up with her after Rogue One‘s epilogue.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is currently streaming on Disney+, as part of the platform’s Star Wars collection.
Published: May 30, 2024 08:25 am