Rumor: Carrie Fisher's Daughter Billie Lourd Joins 'Star Wars Episode VII'

Considering the long casting process J.J. Abrams and crew went through for Star Wars Episode VII, it's surprising some missed one simple way to get in the movie: nepotism. The latest rumor surrounding the film is that Billie Lourd, the daughter of Carrie Fisher, has been cast in the movie. A second rumor on top of that says that she's playing either Leia's daughter or, oddly, a younger version of Leia herself. We'll explore both Billie Lourd Star Wars rumors below.

Here's Lourd with her mom at an event several years back via Getty Images.

The first rumor, that Lourd is in the film at all, originated at Latino Review. At that time, there was no word as to whom the aspiring actress would play. They surmised a cameo. Then The Daily Mail jumped on board:

Although her daughter Billie Lourd, 21, is a relative unknown, director J.J. Abrams is said to have chosen her to play a young version of her mother's character because of their visual similarities...."She will even have her hair tied up in Princess Leia-style buns. She's an aspiring actress and singer so she grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Carrie backed the move as she wanted somebody in her family to play her most famous role."

However, it seems a British talk show called Good Morning Britain reported Lourd is actually playing Leia's daughter. Read that sequence of Tweets here.

So let's assume, if all these sources say Lourd is in the movie, she's in the movie. It makes sense she could play Leia's daughter because she is, in fact, Leia's daughter. How that hypothetical character would fit into the overall story would be interesting though, especially if she wasn't important enough to be at the first table read.

The more juicy, and therefore less likely twist on this, is that she could actually be playing a young Leia. Obviously that would be a Leia between Episode III and IV, the time period of Star Wars Rebels. The most logical conclusion (since she's a young actress and hasn't been officially revealed as being part of the cast) is that she'd voice Leia on Star Wars Rebels. (Leia was obviously important to the Rebellion so I'd assume she shows up at some point in the Disney XD show.) Maybe it's all a big misunderstanding.

But, even though that makes the most sense, no one said Rebels. They said Episode VII. If Lourd is a young Princess Leia in Episode VII, it would have to be some kind of flashback, which would be a huge departure from the rest of the saga which has almost no flashbacks. It's possible though. Maybe a young Leia encountered an ancient evil before she met Luke, Han and the rest, and that plays into her decisions as an older woman. But I don't think Abrams would start using flashbacks when we already have six movies embedded in our minds. Would Abrams really say, "Those six movies are important, but this moment between movies I just made up is ALSO important?" It's not logical.

Either way, it's a fun piece of speculation and rumor here, don't you think? Do you think Billie Lourd is in Episode VII? Who should she play?