The Force is still strong when it comes to theories about the parentage of Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ heroine Rey. McGregor said, laughing. “Maybe they’d lost my agent’s phone number!” His voice was melded with a recording of the original Obi-Wan actor Alec Guinness.

While this obviously gives director Rian Johnson longer to work on the film, it is likely that Disney chose to push back Episode VIII to December so it can mimic the successful pre-Christmas release strategy of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.