Catastrophe creator Sharon Horgan says the late Carrie Fisher's role in the new series has been developed, but they had not yet thought of how they'll deal with her death
Carrie Fisher’s last TV role in the new series of Catastrophe will be a 'bigger, chunkier part' than in previous series, the show’s co-creator Sharon Horgan has said.
The show finished filming just days before the Star Wars actress had a heart attack on a flight home to Los Angeles from London.
She died four days later on December 27.
Carrie appeared as a guest star in the sitcom about a dysfunctional couple as the mother of Rob Norris, played by Sharon’s co-creator and co-star Rob Delaney.
She will also appear in the third series when it screens on Channel 4 later this month.
Sharon said: “The first series and even the second series we didn’t have her for very long, she flew in and did her bit over a day or two and of course we wanted to get to know her better.
“We idolised her, but just didn’t really have a chance to, and then in series three we wrote this bigger, chunkier part for her in episode six and got to spend time with her.
“She was part of the gang and we really feel very privileged and honoured.
“She was funny all the time and incredibly witty company and loved saying assholey things to everyone, but also was just a kind, lovely, supportive person.”
The writing duo revealed they first approached Fisher to play the role through the unorthodox medium of Twitter.
Rob said: “We wrote the pilot and then later went to the Attitude Magazine Awards where Graham Norton was getting the lifetime achievement award and Carrie Fisher was giving it to him.
“Her speech was just amazing and we were watching it and Sharon said ‘What if she played your mum?’, and I was like, ‘Sharon you’re crazy’, and we looked up who her agent was.
“I tried to tweet her first, no response.
“Then we got her agent the scripts for series one and the pilot and she said ‘okay, sure’ and thank god.”
Sharon said they have not yet thought how the show will deal with Carrie’s death, saying: “It’s a bit hard to think about it yet so I’m hoping a bit of time will pass and we will think of a fitting finish to that story.”
Speaking at a press conference in London, Sharon, who plays Sharon in Catastrophe and has written comedies including Pulling and Sarah Jessica Parker’s new show Divorce, was dismissive of a question about the status of women in comedy.
“I feel it’s not really a question any more, it’s just so obvious that a huge proportion of the comedy on TV at the moment is made by women and has been for a while and I’m delighted that it’s not a thing any more,” she said.
The show, which has already been commissioned for a fourth series, will see Rob and Sharon in the aftermath of Sharon’s infidelity at the end of series two.
It will also show alcoholic Rob falling off the wagon. Catastrophe will return to Channel 4 at 10pm on February 28.
