Harrison Ford to Star Wars: The Force Awakens cast members: 'Your life is over'

'It's too late for them. I mean, it's over.'

Harrison Ford had some poignant words for the new Star Wars cast at Comic Con, explaining what a challenging as well as enjoyable time they have ahead as actors.

Despite the ominous opening, he wasn't being gloomy about the sudden celebrity that comes with the franchise, but rather explaining how "the natural state of an actor is to observe life around them, and now you have to figure out how to do that when all anybody’s looking at is you."

Star Wars does tend to make or break actors, with Ford, Carrie Fisher, Natalie Portman and others going on to have successful careers while Mark Hamill, Hayden Christsensen and more faded away.

Asked by io9 what he would say to the new cast, his full answer was as follows:

"It's too late for them. I mean, it's over.

Life as they knew it is no longer possible, you've checked in for the biggest e-ticket ride there ever was.

"I actually did have a bit of a serious conversation with Daisy [Ridley], who enquired about what the experience was like for me some centuries ago when this all started.

"And I said 'your life will change and you will get used to it, and you'll be by turns, happy and delighted and employed and then you'll wonder what the hell happened every once in a while', because you turn from… the natural state of an actor is to observe life around them, and now you have to figure out how to do that when all anybody's looking at is you."

In addition to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, there is to be a spin-off called Rogue One about a rebel siege on the Death Star and a second standalone about a young Han Solo.