Image copyright Reuters Image caption Boyega at the London premiere of Star Wars: The Last Jedi in 2017

It's one of the most hotly anticipated films of the year, shrouded in secrecy. Yet that didn't stop the script for the new Star Wars sequel ending up on eBay.

And it was all because Britain's John Boyega left it under his bed.

Speaking on US TV, Boyega said his Rise of Skywalker script had been found by a cleaner and that it was subsequently offered for sale online "for £65".

"So the person didn't know the true value," he continued, admitting the situation had been "scary".

"Even Mickey Mouse called me up [saying] 'what did you do?'" the actor joked - a reference to the Walt Disney Company which now owns the Star Wars franchise.

The saga began on Monday when director JJ Abrams revealed an unnamed cast member had allowed a script to slip through their fingers.

"One of our actors, I'm not going to say which one - I want to, but I won't - left it under their bed and it was found by someone who was cleaning their place," he told Good Morning America.

"It was given to someone else who then went to sell it on eBay. And someone at the company said, 'You know, there's a script that looks like it's a legit[imate] script that's for sale on eBay'."

The director said the studio had recovered the script - one of a handful printed on "crazy, uncopy-able paper" - before it was sold.

Image copyright Disney/LucasFilm Image caption Ridley and Boyega play Rey and Finn in the current Star Wars films

The plot thickened on Tuesday when cast member Daisy Ridley told the same show she had not been behind the leak.

"It wasn't me," she insisted, while suggesting that one of the show's upcoming guests "can answer the question as to who that was".

That guest turned out to be Boyega, who told the show on Wednesday his script had gone AWOL while he was "moving apartments".

"I was just like, you know what, I'm going to leave it under my bed," he confessed. "When I wake up in the morning I'll take it and then move.

"But my boys came over and, you know, we started partying a little bit, and then the script just, it just stayed there.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption JJ Abrams is the director of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

"Then a few weeks after this cleaner comes in, finds the script and then puts it on eBay," he continued.

"But it all worked out," he concluded, joking it had been his plan all along to let fans "read the movie before they see it".

It's all good publicity for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which opens in the UK and Ireland on 19 December.

And the next time a high-profile screenplay goes walkabout, at least we'll have an idea where to look.

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