With a decade still to traverse until we meet the A New Hope version of Leia Organa, and a number of further years until her Force sensitivity becomes clearly apparent, the task of making young Leia in Obi-Wan Kenobi recognisably the Princess while not revealing too much of her Jedi heritage is a tricky balance. Writer Joby Harold discusses this and more.
EW: We know Leia has the Force, even if Leia does not know she has the Force at this point. So how did you all want to play that scene where Reva tries to break into her mind, because the audience has knowledge that I’m assuming neither character in the scene actually has at this point?
JH: We wanted to not be very overt with Leia’s Force sensitivity. It’s very much as you said, the audience is ahead of the moment, and we didn’t want to lean into it too much whilst acknowledging the fact that the audience, especially the fandom, is cognizant of who Leia is. But at that moment it’s really about those two characters in the scene, and we didn’t want to step out of the scene and start to say, “Here she is in her journey towards Force sensitivity.”
EW: But when Reva says, “You’re strong,” that’s a little bit of a nod for us, right? It’s clear that she is not your typical 10-year-old.
JH: You could’ve thought that, but she’s also being quite resilient as a 10-year-old as well.
EW: You’re writing for this iconic character of Leia, but also writing for a kid in Vivien Lyra Blair. So how much was figuring out just what level of sassiness and precociousness you wanted to hit without coming on too strong?
JH: It really did come down to finding the right actor. And you have to find somebody who feels like they fit the voice of a young Carrie Fisher. And the word I always looked to was spirit. Somebody who feels spirited. They don’t feel precocious. They don’t feel like they are speaking as an adult writing for a kid, but you feel the spirit of what Carrie Fisher built. And Vivian’s just an amazing little actor, and she inhabits that spirit in quite a miraculous way, especially in her scenes with Ewan [McGregor]. And there’s just an alchemy there that I think we were really lucky to find.
