Carrie Fisher Was Developing 'Wishful Drinking' Sequel Before She Went Into Cardiac Arrest

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Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for Wizard World

Carrie Fisher had begun working on the sequel to her 2006 critically acclaimed one-woman show, Wishful Drinking, before her death on Tuesday, ET confirms.

Josh Ravetch, co-creator and director of Fisher's show, tells ET that he and the actress had plans to work on the play, titled Wishful Drinking Strikes Back: From Star Wars to, uh Star Wars!, during the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve.


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"We spent the day at her home in September discussing what the sequel would look like and how it would differ from the first and the tone," he explains, adding that their meeting was interrupted by a phone call from Fisher's mother, Debbie Reynolds.

"We walked across the driveway to see Debbie, and the thing that struck me more than anything; more than her wit, more than her original, remarkable, spectacular mind, what was mostly present that day was what a loving, sweet, attentive, daughter she was to her mother," Ravetch shares.

"We went back up to her house and spent the rest of the afternoon discussing our next steps and her schedule, which was to take her to New York, then London but she'd be back between Christmas and New Year's. Our plan was to spend this week working on the play," he reveals, adding that the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles green-lit the commission on Dec. 22, the day before Fisher went into cardiac arrest on a plane bound for L.A. from London. 


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Randall Arney, Creative Director of the Geffen Playhouse, also confirms the news to ET, revealing that Fisher was excited to start work on the play.

"We were thrilled [when Ravetch and Fisher said they wanted to do a sequel]. She seemed so energetic and ready to go back to work," Arney says. "Doing the one-woman show was an incredible feat. She not only would have to write a 90-minute show, but she had to learn all of it and perform it eight times a week!"

"It's an ambitious project and it speaks to the state she was in -- eager to take on a new challenge. It tested her as a writer, editor and performer. She was ready and excited to perform eight shows a week -- with great gusto!" he adds. "Carrie was so fearless… She was a force."


Wishful Drinking,
which focused on Fisher's personal life and mental health, debuted at the Geffen Playhouse in 2006, and went on to Broadway in 2009 and 2010. Fisher's show also toured San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Seattle, and was published as a memoir in 2008. HBO filmed a feature-length documentary of the stage play in 2010.


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Fisher's trademark wit and humor shone through the pages of Wishful Drinking, which included the obit she penned for herself. 

"I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra," she wrote.

See more in the video below.

-- Reporting by Darla Murray