Last year, several weeks before the release ofStar Wars: The Force Awakens, directorJ.J. Abramsand LucasFilm arranged for aterminally illfan,Daniel Fleetwood, to see the film before anyone else, just days before he passed away. Earlier this year, while promoting the home video release,J.J. Abramsrevealed that there were approximately two dozen other screenings like this for fans who would not have been able to see the movie when it came out, and now we have word that LucasFilm is continuing this wonderful tradition. Over the weekend, the studio screened their highly-anticipated spin offRogue One: A Star Wars Storyfor a lifelong fan namedNeil Hanvey, who sadly passed away at the age of 36, two days after the screening.
Amy Duncan, an employee of St. Michael’s Hospice in the U.K. started the online campaign in April, afterNeilwas admitted to the hospice upon learning that he only had between six to eight months left to live. The hashtag #RogueOneWish quickly started trending, even getting support fromMark Hamill, who retweeted an article about the campaign to his 1.23 million followers. On Saturday, August 20,Rogue OnedirectorGareth Edwardscame through and provided a cut of the film forNeil Hanveyto watch. Here’s a statement from the St. Michael’s HospiceFacebookthat went up on Monday.
“On behalf of Neil Hanvey, his wife Andrea and all his family, we want to thank everyone who supported the #RogueOneWish campaign. The director ofRogue One,Gareth Edwardsdid all he could to make Saturday a very special day for Neil. Neil, his family and everyone at St Michael’s Hospice would like to say thank you to Disney, Lucasfilm and especiallyGareth Edwards.”
Unfortunately,Neil Hanvey, an illustrator and web designer from Manchester U.K., passed away on Monday, August 22, just two days after watching the film. The St. Michael’s Hospice Facebook was updated yesterday morning with a statement fromNeil Hanvey’s wife Andrea, thanking fans from around the world for their condolences and helping makeNeil’s wish come true. Here’s what she had to say below.
“On behalf of all our family we would like to thank everyone who has passed on their condolences following Neil’s death last night. We would also like to thank the tens of thousands of people who supported the #RogueOneWish campaign. All the messages of love during the past week have given us a great deal of comfort during a very difficult time. We would also like to thank everyone at St Michael’s Hospice, especially Amy Duncan, without who #RogueOneWish would not have happened. All donations at Neil’s funeral will go to the Hospice’s Family Support team and will be used to fund work with children and young people. An online donation page will be set-up shortly.”
With four months left until thisStar Wars spin offdebuts, we’ll have to wait and see if any more online campaigns get started for more terminally ill fans who may not be able to seeRogue One. SinceJ.J. AbramsscreenedThe Force Awakensmore than two dozen times to sick fans, we have to imagine that the studio would do their best to make their wishes come true. Stay tuned for more onRogue One: A Star Wars Storyas we get closer to the December 16 release date.
