Adam Driver Says Star Wars Fan Dressed as Kylo Ren Stalked Him

If you think that the dark side of the Star Wars fandom ends with harassing the stars and directors, you would be wrong. There’s an even darker realm of Star Wars fans that exist outside of the trollish lands of social media, and unfortunately Star Wars Sequel Trilogy star Adam Driver is now having to deal with it. Driver was reportedly stalked by a Star Wars fan in a Kylo Ren costume, just to make the whole thing especially creepy. Driver recounted the event in a recent interview with Total Film, as part of a larger conversation about how Star Wars has changed his life.

According to Adam Driver, the stalking incident occurred with the faux Kylo Ren showed up at Driver’s hotel, “They were asking people in the elevator if they’d seen me! That makes you a little nervous.”

It seems that situation ended without major incident, but Driver illustrates just why so many stars and/or directors have been given pause about joining major franchises like Star Wars. Disney, J.J. Abrams, Rian Johnson, Daisy Ridley, Kelly Marie Tran… So many people involved with this Star Wars Sequel Trilogy have ended up paying a heavy price for trying to continue the franchise in the modern age. It seemed as though Driver and his Kylo Ren character were a rare case of a Star Wars Sequel Trilogy actor/character escaping the dark side of the fandom – but clearly that’s not the case.

Well, Driver and Co. are now coming off a divisive and “controversial” previous Star Wars film (Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi), and have the not-so-small task of bringing the entire nine-part Skywalker Saga to a fitting close. That situation is loaded with potential to either redeem fan objections to the Sequel Trilogy, or cause the biggest uproar yet if fans don’t like the finale. Director J.J. Abrams isn’t shying away from that challenge: he’s going big with the ambitious story he’s telling. The tease of Emperor Palpatine’s return, or news that the late Carrie Fisher will have previous scenes she shot cut into new sequences for The Rise of Skywalker, are big risks that will either make the film something epically special or fail spectacularly.

According to franchise star Daisy Ridley, Rise of Skywalker will be emotional, if nothing else. “Definitely dark,” Ridley said about the movie, “There are bits that are genuinely scary. And sad. And joyful.”

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters on December 20th.