  We review recent work examining the influence of fission in rapid neutron
capture ($r$-process) nucleosynthesis which can take place in astrophysical
environments. We briefly discuss the impact of uncertain fission barriers and
fission rates on the population of heavy actinide species. We demonstrate the
influence of the fission fragment distributions for neutron-rich nuclei and
discuss currently available treatments, including recent
macroscopic-microscopic calculations. We conclude by comparing our
nucleosynthesis results directly with stellar data for metal-poor stars rich in
$r$-process elements to consider whether fission plays a role in the so-called
`universality' of $r$-process abundances observed from star to star.
