Star Wars Rogue One: Terminally Ill Fan Who Saw the Movie Early Passes Away

The terminally ill Star Wars fan who was shown Rogue One this past weekend has died. 36-year-old Neil Hanvey had been battling cancer for three-and-a-half years before he passed away on Monday.

Director Gareth Edwards apparently screened the movie for Hanvey on Saturday. A message posted on the St Michael's Hospice Facebook page thanks Edwards, Disney, and Lucasfilm for making Saturday a "very special day" for Hanvey (via The Hollywood Reporter).

A campaign called #RogueOneWish spread across the internet in recent weeks to help Hanvey get the attention of Disney in hopes of letting him see the movie. Hanvey's wife Andrea released a statement Tuesday following her husband's death that thanks everyone for their outpouring of support.

"On behalf of all our family we would like to thank everyone who has passed on their condolences following Neil's death last night," she said. "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," she added. "We would also like to thank everyone at St Michael's Hospice, especially Amy Duncan, without who #RogueOneWish would not have happened."

Donations at Hanvey's funeral will go to the St. Michael's Hospice family support team, while an online donation page has also been created at Justgiving.com.

The #RogueOneWish campaign generated quite a lot of buzz; Mark Hamill even retweeted messages about it. Rogue One officially comes out in December.

Last year, Disney screened Star Wars: The Force Awakens for a terminally ill person who later died, according to Cinemablend.