Carrie's brother, Todd Fisher, tells us the family recently saw 'Last Jedi' and struggled watching General Leia in one particular scene ... which was extremely traumatic for the character. We don't want to say anything more than that with the movie just being released Thursday night.

We're told the family had actually seen an early cut of the film while Carrie was still alive. They saw the scene in question back then, and say it wasn't nearly as gut-wrenching. Again we'll avoid spoilers and leave it at that.

The family did enjoy the tribute to Carrie at the end of the flick. Although Lucasfilm has already announced Carrie won't be in 'Episode IX' ... we're told the family hopes Leia will continue to live on in the 'Star Wars' world in some spirit.

They're also not opposed to a CGI Leia like we saw in 'Rogue One.'