Which Star Wars cast member accidentally leaked The Rise of Skywalker script?
Director JJ Abrams has revealed that the script he co-wrote for the upcoming Star Wars film, The Rise of Skywalker, was leaked after a cast member accidentally left it under their bed at home, where it was found by a cleaner before being passed on and auctioned on eBay.
Thankfully, a Disney employee spotted the script and bought it before it could reach any fans. The film, which is released next month and is the ninth and final episode in the Star Wars saga, was still being edited as late as last week. The trailer, which was released in October, depicts the remaining forces of the Resistance battle the First Order for the final time, as well as a scene with the late Carrie Fisher's General Leia Organa.
Only leads in the Star Wars franchises are given scripts, which means the actor at fault could only be one of a handful of names, including Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley.
Keri Russell, who plays the saga's new Anzellan droidsmith Zorii Bliss, has previously said she had to read her script in a guarded room, and that she was only given specific pages that didn't reveal the ending, while Hamill, who recently confirmed his character Luke Skywalker would return from the dead as a Force ghost, explained that he would also have to read the script in a locked room and couldn’t even take it home with him overnight. Hamill added that every page is printed on dark paper that makes it impossible to copy.
Speaking on Good Morning America, Abrams said: “They were really nervous about anything getting out, and so they had only a handful of scripts, and they were printed on crazy, uncopy-able paper. One of our actors, I won’t say which one — I want to, but I won’t — left it under their bed and it was found by someone who was cleaning their place,” He added: “And it was given to someone else, who then went to sell it on eBay.”
In the interview, Abrams confirmed the film's run time to be two hours and 21 minutes, and discussed how the story continues Fisher's role following the actor's death in December 2016, by integrating unused footage from his 2015 sequel The Force Awakens.
The Rise of Skywalker was originally set to be released on May 24, but production issues in August and September 2017 – including director and screenwriter changes – delayed the film’s schedule by six months.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is in UK cinemas from December 19
