Star Wars: Hayden Christensen and Diego Luna Discuss the Difficulties of Keeping Franchise Secrets

Star Wars has been in the game of keeping secrets since the franchise was created by George Lucas outside the purview of the studio system. By the time of The Empire Strikes Back and its massive twist reveals, Star Wars had forever changed the landscape of movies, and fan expectations for biggest twists and surprises. 

Well, the job of keeping fans on their toes gets infinitely harder when you are one of the most popular franchises in existence, with big reveals being a staple of your franchise DNA. Modern Star Wars actors have to navigate a minefield of online fan theories, scoop hunters constantly poking for holes in the production's veil of secrecy and Papparzzi always snapping shots of outdoor sets and shoots. 

In a new discussion between Star Wars Prequels icon Hayden Christensen, and Star Wars: Andor star Diego Luna, the two actors went into just how challenging it is to keep Star Wars secrets (via Variety).

Diego Luna  shared the story of how quickly he learned about the mania surrounding Star Wars spoilers, back when he was filming Rouge One: A Star Wars Story: 

LUNA: When we were shooting the first week or two of Rogue One, they gave us an amazing gift, these designs of the helmets of stormtroopers. I'm not going to say who, but an hour later, that was in all the social media. That was the last gift we got in the show.

CHRISTENSEN: They were like, never again.

LUNA: Yeah, that was it. The secrecy. How do you live with that?

CHRISTENSEN: There are a lot of secrets in "Star Wars." It's tough.

LUNA: And everyone wants to know them. You might have tons of secrets that are about your past that no one wants to hear about. You can be in a conversation where someone is just there to get you to say something you're not supposed to say.

Sometimes it's hard to really envision the level of life commitment it takes to be the face of a Star Wars, Marvel, or DC project. As Luna and Christensen point out, even a casual conversation with the seemingly trusted company could allow a slip that lets another person connect the dots and figure out major spoilers of a franchise film and/or TV show. 

hayden-christensen-and-diego-luna-talk-keeping-star-wars-franchise-secrets.jpg
(Photo: Lucasfilm)

Christensen went on to explain just how fine the line is: not being so crazy about secrecy that you isolate yourself, but also not being the vile person who ruins an experience for countless others: 

CHRISTENSEN: It's tough for me because I like to share things. But I was always very tightlipped about everything. Of course, when I first got the phone call that I was getting the part, they were like, "You can't tell anybody" – and I got on the phone right away and I told my mom, I told my best friend. But when it comes to story points and stuff that's going on in the actual stories, I don't want to be the one who gives it away. You want it to be that fresh experience for the audience.

For Diego Luna, secrecy is a noble challenge, in order to re-create the mystique that TV and films used to enjoy freely: 

LUNA: That's another thing I really loved about being so rigorous about the secrecy. I grew up going to the cinema and knowing the title of the film and probably a name or two and that was it. Today, you have an opinion before you have seen the show before the film comes out. You already know the music, how it looks, what happened on set and what others like about it, which is it's quite sad. It takes a little bit of magic away.

CHRISTENSEN: Yeah. I mean, they do a really good job of keeping the important ["Star Wars"] stuff secret. It's also fun to be in on the secret, too.

LUNA: It connects with the way I watched TV in the '90s. This idea of something coming out every week and having to wait. It gives you a week to reflect.

You can stream Star Wars TV and Films on Disney+. Luna will return in Andor Season 2; Christensen will return in Ahsoka this August. 

0comments