Carrie Fisher's Family Would've Approved Full CGI Leia in 'Skywalker'

Carrie Fisher shows up in the new 'Star Wars' movie in the flesh -- without much digital magic -- but her fam says they would've signed off on a complete CGI Princess Leia ... if it was needed.

The late actress's brother, Todd Fisher, tells TMZ ... while director J.J. Abrams and co. told them ahead of time they'd mostly be using old footage of Carrie for Leia's final appearances in 'Rise of Skywalker,' he says he wouldn't have minded a full computer-generated recreation for action sequences.

Even crazier ... Todd tells us he doesn't think his sister would've cared about a CGI rendering either. If anything, he believes she would've given her full blessing, so long as it facilitated the story, and honored the legacy of the character. Todd says, "[B]etter that than nothing."

There's more evidence Carrie would've been on board with a CGI version of herself because one already exists. Princess Leia's young face was superimposed onto another actress in the prequel to 'A New Hope' in 'Rogue One,' which filmed before Carrie died in 2016.

At the time, it's reported she was cool with the studio's digital take ... which lends credence to Todd's speculation. Fortunately -- or unfortunately -- Carrie appears as is in the new flick without a touch of CGI (on the old version of General Leia, anyway). There is a flashback scene, however, which shows young Leia training under Luke, but it's the same deal as 'Rogue One' ... a superimposed de-aged face on a stunt double -- not actually Carrie.

It's interesting ... because if Carrie had still been alive today, we might've seen an older version Leia jumping around with a light saber and kicking ass.

Todd had previously said J.J. and the 'Star Wars' team were toying with the idea of Princess Leia becoming a full-blown Jedi (as her old self) before losing the lead star. That specific plotline was obviously tweaked for 'Rise of Skywalker' in light of Carrie's death -- we only see a snippet of that in the flashback as young Leia, instead of General Leia Organa.

Anyway, the takeaway here is basically this ... if J.J. wanted to run with that -- or even try something CGI-related in the future -- Todd and the fam would give the green light.