Did not see a thread on episode 9. Saw this rumor about recasting Carrie Fisher. https://movieweb.com/star-wars-9-meryl-streep-replace-carrie-fisher-leia/
Oh man, I kinda want them to, just to see the fanboys explode. But seriously though, they won't recast her or use old footage or cgi her. This has been stated so often by now, that Disney is quite aware that going back on that, is gonna generate way too much bad press.
Leia's death will be announced in the opening crawl. Either the film proper starts with her funeral, or it's already been a while since her death (I'm estimating a 5-10 year time jump between VIII and IX). The only things that were really left for her to do storywise was to rebuild the Resistance, finish grooming Poe into her replacement, and have a face-to-face showdown with Kylo Ren. IX will open with the Resistance back from the grave with Poe leading it, so that much is covered. As for Kylo... well, my take is we are going to find him seemingly triumphant - the First Order rules the galaxy, he's declared himself Emperor, he sits on Palpatine's throne or something similar - but the family he killed along the way preys heavily on his increasingly psychotic mind. (Even more so if he's the one who actually killed Leia.) If we absolutely can't use any image of Leia as a ghost, to go along with Luke's... well, he only needs to hear one echoing ghostly thing from Leia, and it's a line of dialogue we already have: "I held out hope for so long... my son is gone." Hux and Phasma (of COURSE she didn't die) will have their hands full trying to work around Kylo's madness, run the galaxy and try to counter the rebounding Resistance.
This is not a rumor; it's a clickbait-driven site seizing on the actions of a few well-intentioned but ultimately misguided fans and trying to spin it into a news story because there's nothing else for them to report on as far as this film goes and they're desperate for clicks and views.
I think you're right on here... I don't know if the time jump will be that long, but my feeling is that they'll have to begin with movie with her funeral. I also think, with Carrie gone, Mark Hamill will have a much expanded role in his guidance of Rey.
We'll see. Given the narrative trajectory that TLJ took us in, I have a strong suspicion that Luke's time is over, though.
The only thing I've seen re: Mark and E9 is that the decision of whether or not he returns lies with J.J. Abrams.
He made a comment in response to a tweet about shaving his beard. So, he doesn't appear to be "done" with the series.
I shared very similar thoughts in the thread on what they'll do with the Leia character in the future. I think that we'll see a time jump (I'm guessing 3-5 years) and possibly start the next movie with Leia's funeral. At least I hope there's a time jump, as there wasn't one between the first two films. I'm not sure over what time frame Last Jedi takes place (just a couple days, right?), but all of the events of Force Awakens and Last Jedi happening back-to-back is quite a lot. These people need a respite. I could be misremembering, but I thought I read a discussion here a while ago that someone on production mentioned in an interview that Leia may be suffering some long-term effects from her bout in space. Even if someone didn't actually say this, I think it would make sense. I could see her death being caused by that, or she went out in some heroic fashion.
If they do a time jump and begin with Leia dead, then I'm assuming we'll probably end up with a book or comic focused on her death and the events around it. Even if it happens off screen, there is no way we won't see it in some form.
Luke pretty much said he was going to annoy the shit out of Kylo Ren if he were to be struck down in The Last Jedi. I hope to see him live up to that promise, the same way Jar Jar Binks' Force ghost annoyed the shit out of Darth Vader in Robot Chicken. I also wouldn't be opposed to Billie Lourd taking over for Carrie Fisher in Episode IX.
Billie Lourd is already Kaydel Ko Connix, so it would be weird to suddenly have her as Leia. Theoretically it would have been easier after The Force Awakens, where she was barely more than an extra, but after her bigger role The Last Jedi I just couldn't see it working.