An emotional goodbye to his TV mom. Catastrophe‘s Rob Delaney paid tribute to his late costar Carrie Fisher in an emotional essay published by The Guardian on Wednesday, December 28.
“She played my mom on Catastrophe, the sitcom I write and star in with Sharon Horgan,” Delaney wrote. “Or should I say, ‘plays my mom,’ since we just finished shooting last week, and Carrie’s scenes haven’t been seen by anyone yet. Except for me and Sharon, that is, and our director, producer and editor. We’ve seen them, and they’re amazing.”
Fisher wrapped up her role earlier this month, with Horgan posting a photo to Instagram of herself with the Star Wars star on the series’ London set on December 16. Her part as Rob’s mother, Mia, was the final onscreen project for Fisher, who died at age 60 on Tuesday, December 27, four days after suffering a heart attack on a plane from London to Los Angeles. (She also provides voice-over work on two upcoming episodes of Family Guy.)
Delaney, who plays Rob Norris in the Amazon comedy he cocreated with Horgan, revealed that Fisher will have an expanded role in the upcoming third season, which is set to debut in 2017.
“She’s a bigger part of [season] 3 than she was of the first two [seasons],” Delaney wrote about the show that focuses on a couple whose brief affair leads to an unexpected pregnancy. “We couldn’t help but write more for her because she’s so brilliant.”
The comedian, 39, called himself “a fan forever” of Fisher’s, pointing out that she “was the only cast member Sharon and I would let improvise. (I say ‘let,’ as if we could stop her. She let us put her in our show.) We’re a bit despotic and inflexible with our dialogue because we’re insane, but Carrie was more insane and would always, always make it funnier and better.”
He closed the essay by writing, “What I’m getting at here is that I revered Carrie until I met her, and then I loved her. I’m smiling, thinking about her. I hope you are too.”
A number of Fisher’s costars from other projects have expressed their grief as well, including Star Wars’ Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford, along with Tina Fey, who shared scenes with the late actress on NBC’s 30 Rock.
