Spoiler alert!
There's maybe a spoiler in here. It says it in the headline! So if you're sensitive to spoilers, maybe stop reading? Or check out the rest of our Star Wars Celebration coverage.
Security was tight at the Star Wars Celebration Europe panel this afternoon in London; with an early sneak peek of the trailer, Disney and Lucasfilm couldn’t be too careful. But what if someone made it past security, onto the stage, got mic’d up and then accidentally let slip a spoiler despite trying, deliberately, to be vague? But first, some background.
In Rogue One, Donnie Yen will play Chirrut Imwe, a blind spiritual warrior who sees through the Force. He is not a Jedi, but he reveres their teachings and hopes to live up to their legacy by fighting alongside the Rebel Alliance.
Jiang Wen's character, Baze Malbus, is a bit more practical. He seems to let his firepower do the talking, and doesn't believe in the Force as Chirrut does. The pair was inspired by the two bickering peasant characters from Akira Kurosawa's 1958 film The Hidden Fortress, which heavily influenced the original Star Wars. In fact, C-3PO and R2-D2 were based on the same characters. Chirrut and Baze will be butting heads in the film, but, much like Threepio and Artoo, they are inseparable friends.
Maybe ... and again, a spoiler warning. Here’s what Wen had to say about this character during today’s Star Wars Celebration livestream. (Watch above by jumping to 3:36:17, or click here.)
What I say about this character, I have to say Baze has a … gun. Am I wrong? He has a gun. He has a huge gun. He has a weapon that’s very huge. Is that right? Is that English right?
So he and me was a partner and he of course believe in Force, but my character don’t believe in Force at that time. But I pretend all of them — not them, just them — to do very very big mission, I can not say that. And, when this guy dead, I do something better. Maybe I believe by my action, he’s thinker, I’m doer, so …
"I think you’ve got to leave it there," host, and fell Star Warrior, Gwendolyn Christie interjects.
"Anyway, I have a gun, a huge gun. Thank you. That is Baze," he concludes.
Did ... he just confirm that Donnie Yen’s Chirrut Imwe dies in the movie? It’s hard to say for sure, but social media sure seems to think so!
Jiang Wen just said a major spoiler. Kathleen Kennedy did not look amused. I love him! #StarWars #RogueOne #SWCE
— Selene (@DevouringDragon) July 15, 2016
Aside from Jiang Wen dropping a massive spoiler for #RogueOne by accident, the panel and trailer were pretty damn good #Vader #StarWars
— Liam McCormack (@_Liam_McCormack) July 15, 2016
"My English very limited..." Proceeds to drop major Star Wars spoiler.
— Ryan Edwards (@rjedwards50) July 15, 2016
Interesting to see how the people at Star Wars deal with a spoiler that one of their own let slip… #RogueOne
— Dillon Riera (@13d_riera) July 15, 2016
Of course, we don’t expect Lucasfilm to confirm that, or even address it, but we do expect everyone to wonder about it constantly in the five long months (almost exactly!) before Rogue One’s Dec. 16 release.
