Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy, speaking at the fan convention Star Wars Celebration, said the upcoming eighth chapter of the Star Wars saga would be Leia's last.

Fisher died in December; in a tragic twist, her mother, veteran film actress Debbie Reynolds, died a day later.

"We will see a lot of Carrie in [episode] eight," Kennedy said. "Sadly, Carrie will not be in nine."

The Last Jedi, the saga's penultimate chapter, is released later this year; the ninth chapter, which is still untitled, will be released in 2019.

Fisher's scenes for The Last Jedi were filmed prior to her death.

Lucasfilm has confirmed they will not use computer graphics interface "CGI" special effects to recreate Leia.

That gimmick was used in last year's standalone Star Wars movie, Rogue One, to re-create Fisher's Princess Leia as she appeared in the original 1977 film Star Wars: A New Hope.

Rogue One was set just prior to the events of A New Hope and a scene intended to bridge the two films featured the younger Leia on the bridge of her consular starship, the Tantive IV.

Leia - the adopted daughter of Viceroy Bail Organa - is a key character in the Star Wars story; she is the daughter of the Sith lord Darth Vader and a key figure in the rebel alliance against the Empire.

In the most recent Star Wars films, Leia has set aside her royal title and is referred to as General Organa.

Kennedy's statements today seem to contradict remarks made by Fisher's brother Todd that Carrie would appear in the ninth and final Star Wars film; Kennedy said today he was simply confused.

Though much of the focus of the Star Wars Celebration event has been on the upcoming film The Last Jedi, a video package of Fisher's work in the Star Wars films was screened at the event.

Fisher's daughter, Billie Lourd, also spoke at the event, reflecting on her mother's battle with her own "dark side", a reference to the "dark side of the Force", in Star Wars lore, the source of power used by the Jedi knights.

"You accepted and embraced all of her, the strong soldier of a woman she was and also the vulnerable side of her who often openly fought her own dark side," Lourd told the fan gathering.

"She loved you, she loved these movies, she loved the people she got to make them with, and she loved this incredible character she got to create, this force called Leia," she added.

Lourd told the audience that her mother had taught her Princess Leia's famous "General Kenobi" speech, which is featured in the original Star Wars as a holographic plea for help send with the astromech droid R2-D2.

The video package screened at Star Wars Celebration included the same speech, mixing clips of the hologram as it appeared in the film, footage of Fisher performing it in the studio, and more recent clips of her reciting it, including interviews in 2015 to promote the release of "episode seven", The Force Awakens.