Star Wars Celebration 2017 kicked off today, bringing thousands of fans to Orlando, Florida to celebrate the 40th anniversary of A New Hope and get exclusive first looks at the forthcoming The Last Jedi. Before all the fun stuff got going, however, the Jedi faithful gathered to pay their respects to the fallen General Leia Organa, Carrie Fisher.
George Lucas and producer Kathleen Kennedy took the stage at the opening ceremony to talk about their admiration and love for the late actress, who passed away in December at the age of 60. “She played a part that was very smart, and she was having to hold her own against two big lugs, goofballs that were screwing everything up,” Lucas said. “She was the boss. It was her war, and when I cast it, I said I want somebody young to play the part. I want somebody very young. When Carrie came in, she was that character. She was very strong, very smart, very funny, very bold, very tough, and there really wasn’t much of a question. There are not very many people like her. They are one in a billion. For this particular part, it was absolutely perfect.”
(Read: Five Reasons Why Carrie Fisher Ruled Out Galaxy)
Fisher’s daughter, Billie Lourd, then appeared to introduce a sad but wonderfully touching tribute video to her mother. “If life isn’t funny, then it’s just true,” Lourd said her mother taught her, “and that is unacceptable.”
The nearly five-minute video, which can be watched below, features Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Oscar Issac, J.J. Abrams, and more of Fisher’s Star Wars family touching on the relationships they had with her. “She just is the most entertaining and shockingly funny person you’ll ever know,” Abrams says in an interview, and a number of clips from Fisher’s life prove him right. There’s her infamous speech about George Lucas at the AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony, her constant banter with her castmates, and the heartwarming fact that she still remembered every line Princess Leia spoke to the very end.
Watch the video, which includes brief footage of Fisher on the set of The Last Jedi, below. Appropriately, David Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel” serves as the soundtrack.
Fisher will appear in both The Last Jedi and the forthcoming ninth installment scheduled for release in 2019. Disney has said it will not be digitally recreate her, but instead use actual footage of the late princess.