Potentially massive spoilers ahead for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. This isn't something little, but a plot point that has the ability to ruin major scenes in the movie for you. Please only proceed if you're ok with your moviegoing experience being altered.
An actor's role isn't simply showing up to set and saying their lines. In fact, there are quite a ton of jobs which actors must complete when working on big budget movies, especially if they are a serious franchise like Star Wars. In addition to rehearsal and filming, actors have to go through seemingly endless promotional events and press junkets, often answering the same inquiries over and over again while keeping tight lipped about spoilers. Unfortunately, nobody's perfect, and spoilery mistakes can happen in the blink of an eye. That's exactly what happened today at the Star Wars Celebration, in regards to the upcoming standalone film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
In a panel about the newest Star Wars entry, actor Jiang Wen may have accidentally spoiled a major aspect of Rogue One by revealing a character death. It's cringe-worthy and we're sure he's not happy about this slip up. If you're interested in what he has to say, check out this video below at the 22:20 mark.
Oof, this poor guy. Being in a room full of some of the most hardcore Star Wars fans and accidentally ruining their viewing experience seems like a living nightmare. Let's talk about exactly what went down regarding Jiang Wen's statement.
When trying to explain his character Baze's arc in Rogue One, Jiang Wen refers to his relationship with fellow Rebel warrior Chirrut Imwe (played by actor Donnie Yen). He seems to say the following, revealing that Donnie Yen's character bites the dust at some point in the movie.
And when this guy dead I do something better.
Panelist and actress Gwendoline Christie quickly cut him off in an attempt to presumably save the moment, but the cat may be out of the bag. Co-star Alan Tudyk is seated next to Jiang Wen, and he looks visibly shaken and mortified, which seems to point to the slip-up being factual. This is the biggest spoiler moments since Ian McShane gave away information on Game of Thrones before it began airing.
Of course, we have to take a few other things into consideration. For one, English is not Jiang Wen's first language, so it's possible that he was flustered when speaking and accidentally said something that he wouldn't reveal if speaking in his native tongue. There is also the possibility of the language barrier causing a bit of miscommunication, with Wen's words only seeming like a spoiler, when he meant to make a different statement.
The Star Wars franchise as of late has been extremely tight lipped regarding spoilers. We didn't even know what The Force Awakens was about when it finally hit theaters last December. With such a brilliant marketing team behind the films, it's a possibility that they're throwing us a purposeful red herring, and Donnie Yen's character makes it out of conflict in one piece. For Jiang Wen's sake, I hope that's the case. Otherwise, he may have gotten into some serious hot water with the House of Mouse.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will fly into theaters December 16th. Let's hope this spoiler is the last one we'll be subject to before seeing the movie in the flesh.
