Last week, news about Harrison Ford’s ankle injury and subsequent “rush to the hospital” spread like wildfire online, with many sources brushing off the situation as no big deal. However, new reports suggest that the actor’s injury is more serious than we originally anticipated, as he didn’t just break his ankle, but his left leg, which confirms the rumors that he could be out of commission on Star Wars: Episode VII for as long as eight weeks.
As they say though, the show must go on, and it looks like things will be able to continue smoothly without the scruffy looking nerf herder. According to an anonymous source for The Mirror, the filmmakers are already finding ways to work around this little setback:
“The initial day or two after the accident it was hard to move things around but now we have had more time we can juggle things, bring some scenes forward and push others back. There are lots of other actors in the movie so it is not a disaster. We are still confident the film can stay on schedule. At the moment it looks like Harrison is going to be off set for 6-8 weeks but the main priority is making sure he is okay.”
So, despite some scheduling headaches and the waves of internet memes that have already cropped up around the injury (my personal favorite: headlines that read, “BREAKING: Harrison Ford”), it looks like things in the galaxy far, far away will proceed without too much fanfare or crippling production delays.
Star Wars: Episode VII is currently filming in Abu Dhabi. Directed by J.J. Abrams, the film features returning stars Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew and Kenny Baker. They are joined by a new cast that includes John Boyega, Adam Driver, Lupita Nyong’o, Gwendoline Christie, Andy Serkis, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson and Max von Sydow. As of right now, the film is still scheduled to complete the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs and arrive in theaters on December 18th, 2015.