Petition calls for Meryl Streep to play Princess Leia
May the force be with Meryl Streep. A fan has created an online petition to have the Academy Award-winning actress replace the late "Star Wars" star Carrie Fisher in the role of Princess Leia.
Nearly 10,000 people have signed the online petition to cast Streep as Princess Leia in the upcoming "Star Wars" movie.
Fisher died in December 2016 and her performance in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" became her final role when it posthumously premiered in 2017. The latest "Star Wars" trilogy still has one more movie set to premiere in 2019 -- "Star Wars: XI."
The petition -- "Cast Meryl Streep as Princess Leia in Star Wars Episode IX!" -- was created by a user identified by the name "Chill M."
"As the fans of STAR WARS and Carrie Fisher, we really want Leia to shine in Episode IX and we certainly do not want her to be written out of the film abruptly," the petition reads. "Therefore, recasting Leia is a more ideal option for us and we believe that Meryl Streep is an ideal candidate to play Leia."
Fisher and Streep's lives and careers have intersected before. When Fisher's semi-autobiographical novel "Postcards from the Edge" became a movie in 1990, Streep played the role of Suzanne Vale -- the character based on Fisher.
Streep's friendship with Fisher and her performance in "Postcards from the Edge," make her the ideal person to play Princess Leia, the petition argues.
As of this writing, 9,989 people agreed that Streep should play Leia and signed the petition.
The petition is addressed to Lucasfilm, Walt Disney Studios, producer Kathleen Kennedy and Director J.J.Abrams -- though it is unclear if any of them have seen it.
"May the force be with Carrie Fisher, Meryl Streep and Princess Leia," the petition reads on a final note.
