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Felicity Jones in Star Wars Rogue One Image Credit: Supplied

A special screening of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which is slated to release on December 27, was organised by director Gareth Edwards for a terminally ill fan, Neil Hanvey, who died two days after watching the film.

Edwards organised the special screening on August 20. Thirty-six-year-old Hanvey, who was told in April that he had only six to eight months to live, died on Monday.

The news was broken by St Michael’s Hospice on Facebook. The post, which was shared on Tuesday, delivered a message from Hanvey’s wife, Andrea.

“On behalf of all our family we would like to thank everyone who has passed on their condolences following Neil’s death last night [August 22],” the message read.

“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,” the message further read.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story follows a band of Rebel fighters stealing the plans for the Death Star before it can be used by the Emperor.

Felicity Jones, Forest Whitaker and Mads Mikkelsen are among the cast members.