Entertainment
Star Wars Actor's Career Was Destroyed By A Bizarre Lie
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
While James Earl Jones provided the iconic voice for Darth Vader, it was bodybuilder David Prowse who actually wore the intimidating suit, using his prodigious height to absolutely terrify moviegoers around the world. Sadly, Prowse had an epic falling out with franchise creator George Lucas that began with the actor telling a bunch of fans in 1978 that Vader was Luke Skywalker’s father.
This led to Prowse getting iced out of the franchise that made him famous and even banned from official Star Wars conventions, but here’s the wild part: he had no idea what the plot of The Empire Strikes Back was going to be at the time, and he told fans a lie about Vader being Luke’s Daddy that ended up being true completely by accident!
The Force Was With Him
It all started in 1978, when over a thousand fans came to Berkeley to see David Prowse, who had become famous thanks to the success of the first Star Wars movie. He answered fan questions and told them when the second film would go into production and that it would be followed by another sequel. Of that third movie, Prowse proclaimed that Luke and Vader would square off in a “do-or-die lightsaber duel” and that “Father can’t kill son, son can’t kill father.”
In retrospect, this whole thing seems crazy; Prowse just casually spoiled the big plot twist of The Empire Strikes Back (Vader’s declaration of “I am your father!” to Luke Skywalker) two years before the movie came out. However, things aren’t actually that cut and dry. The sequel film was still being written at the time, so Prowse would literally have no way of knowing that Vader was Luke’s father.
His Lack Of Faith Disturbed George Lucas
Nonetheless, Prowse’s comments were published by The San Francisco Examiner. Surprisingly, the apparent spoilers for the next Star Wars movie didn’t travel very far, barely making a ripple in the fandom (man oh man, things were different before the internet!). Nonetheless, George Lucas resented Prowse for spilling the beans, and he took drastic measures on the set of the next film, including giving some Empire actors fake scripts to prevent leaks and even giving Prowse fake dialogue for the movie’s biggest scene.
You see, David Prowse didn’t actually say “I am your father” when filming this famous scene with Mark Hamill; he’d later claim that the line he was given was a fairly generic “come and join me and the Dark Side.” Hamill was told what the real line would be only right before they shot the scene, allowing him to properly emote. Prowse, meanwhile, had to find out alongside everyone else when he saw The Empire Strikes Back in theaters!
The Man Behind The Mask
The Darth Vader actor accidentally spoiling this big reveal two years earlier might have made George Lucas paranoid, but they didn’t have a proper falling out until production of Return of the Jedi. This was the movie where Vader would finally be unmasked, and David Prowse assumed he would be the man beneath the mask. In a truly bizarre twist, he wouldn’t discover otherwise until a journalist came to the gym and bluntly asked if the actor knew that he was getting killed off and that Sebastian Shaw would be playing the unnamed Vader, which he proved by examining Prowse’s call sheet.
This news was very upsetting to Prowse, but things went from bad to worse the very next day when The Daily Mail ran a story with the headline “Darth Vader to be killed off in the next movie, in an interview with David Prowse.” This caused George Lucas to believe Prowse had leaked another major spoiler to the press, and the actor later claimed that he was immediately “ostracized” on the set of Return of the Jedi, with both the producer and director refusing to work with him. Lucas stopped talking to him altogether over this, though Prowse has always maintained his innocence.
Still, being ignored by Lucas didn’t make Prowse any less popular with the fans, and he continued to make appearances at official Star Wars conventions. But in 2010, he appeared in The People vs. George Lucas, a documentary that severely criticized the creator of everyone’s favorite galaxy far, far away. That same year, Lucas officially cut any remaining ties with Prowse, and the actor was banned from attending official conventions.
David Prowse Gets Completely Removed From Star Wars
Before his death, David Prowse claimed he was never paid the residuals he was owed for Return of the Jedi, something which could possibly be a result of his epic falling out with Lucas. Because of this and the fact that his career was so irrevocably tied to Star Wars, the actor relied on fan conventions for most of his income. Official conventions like Star Wars Celebration helped him earn much of the money he needed to support himself and his wife, so getting banned from them was a severe financial blow.
However, Prowse might not have gotten banned from these conventions if Lucas didn’t still blame him for the press leak about Vader dying, and Lucas might not have so readily blamed Prowse for that if the actor hadn’t told a bunch of fans that Vader was Luke’s father way back in 1978. Prowse had no way of actually knowing that, however, and made up a complete fabrication that just happened to come true. In this way, a bizarre lie ended up completely ruining the career of the man behind the most famous villain in Hollywood history.
Entertainment
Wordle today: Answer, hints for April 19, 2026
Today’s Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you can never sit down.
If you just want to be told today’s word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today’s Wordle solution revealed. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
Where did Wordle come from?
Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once.
Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.
What’s the best Wordle starting word?
The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.
What happened to the Wordle archive?
The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website’s creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.
Is Wordle getting harder?
It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn’t any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle‘s Hard Mode if you’re after more of a challenge, though.
Here’s a subtle hint for today’s Wordle answer:
To rise.
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Does today’s Wordle answer have a double letter?
There are no recurring letters.
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Today’s Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…
Today’s Wordle starts with the letter T.
The Wordle answer today is…
Get your last guesses in now, because it’s your final chance to solve today’s Wordle before we reveal the solution.
Drumroll please!
The solution to today’s Wordle is…
STAND
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints. Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.
Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Wordle.
Entertainment
Hurdle hints and answers for April 19, 2026
If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.
There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it’ll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.
An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.
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If you find yourself stuck at any step of today’s Hurdle, don’t worry! We have you covered.
Hurdle Word 1 hint
The edge.
Hurdle Word 1 answer
BRINK
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Hurdle Word 2 hint
Moody.
Hurdle Word 2 Answer
POUTY
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Hurdle Word 3 hint
America’s bird.
Hurdle Word 3 answer
EAGLE
Hurdle Word 4 hint
A platform.
Hurdle Word 4 answer
FORUM
Final Hurdle hint
Cheapskate.
Hurdle Word 5 answer
MISER
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Entertainment
Star Trek’s Most Ambitious Villain Helped Create The Franchise’s Most Complex Hero
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
When Star Trek: Voyager first came out, the most fascinating character was the Doctor. While Robert Picardo’s performance was superb, it’s fair to say this character was mostly fascinating on a conceptual level. We had seen things like hypercompetent Starfleet captains and exotic aliens before, but what we hadn’t seen was a fully holographic chief medical officer. Voyager’s Emergency Medical Hologram seemed like the perfect embodiment of the Star Trek ethos. He’s a technological strange new world and new life, all rolled into one.
However, what casual audiences didn’t realize is that the Doctor wasn’t completely unique. Long before Picardo’s character ever sawed bones in the Delta Quadrant, Captain Picard dealt with another extraordinary hologram: Moriarty, the brilliant foe of the famous investigator Sherlock Holmes. Over on The Next Generation, Geordi LaForge accidentally created this villain as a sentient hologram when he asked the holodeck to create a challenge worthy of the android Data. Later, Star Trek: Voyager executive producer Jeri Taylor revealed that, in-universe, the holographic Doctor was created because Starfleet took advantage of the same accidental breakthrough that created Moriarty!
It all started in “Elementary, My Dear Data,” the Next Generation episode in which the titular android and Geordi LaForge recreated Sherlock Holmes’ adventures on the holodeck. Thanks to his positronic brain and his encyclopedic knowledge of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Holmes novels, Data is able to easily solve every mystery that is thrown at him. That’s when Geordi makes a seemingly simple request. He asks the Enterprise computer to develop a holodeck foe that could actually defeat Data, one of the smartest beings in the entire galaxy.
The computer obliges and creates a sentient version of Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes’ greatest foe. Following Geordi’s instructions, the Enterprise computer included much of Data’s vast programming, which resulted in the holographic character becoming self-aware. Moriarty ended up threatening the Enterprise on two different occasions, and Picard eventually got rid of him by trapping the unknowing villain in a simulation where he thought he had left the holodeck and could explore the stars. This was meant to be a happy ending for Moriarty, but in the show’s typically bleak fashion, Star Trek: Picard later showed us a different, more hostile version of this character created by a malevolent Section 31 AI.
How A Villain Created A Hero
What does all of this have to do with Robert Picardo’s holographic Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager? Elementary, my dear reader! Very early in Voyager’s development (the show didn’t even have a name yet), executive producer Jeri Taylor was inspired by Moriarty to create a new character. As reported in A Vision of the Future-Star Trek: Voyager, Taylor wrote down notes for a holographic doctor “who, like Moriarty, has ‘awareness’ of himself as a holodeck fiction. He longs for the time when he can walk free of the Holodeck.”
A few days later, she wrote down additional notes that contain a startling bit of Star Trek lore. “The Holo-Doctor represents a new, state-of-the-art technology which has capitalized on the serendipitous incident which created Moriarty, and has programmed a holographic character which has self-awareness of his situation and limitations.” While Moriarty is name-dropped on Voyager a couple of times, the show never mentioned what Taylor’s notes seem to confirm: that Lewis Zimmerman could never have created the Emergency Medical Hologram program if not for Geordi LaForge accidentally creating Moriarty on the holodeck.
From Villain To Leading Man?
If that’s not strange enough, there was a period of time when Voyager’s producers were considering making Moriarty a mainstay character on the show. As reported in Star Trek–Where No One Has Gone Before, Taylor’s notes mentioned that “everyone agreed that was a little too broad, and we couldn’t figure out why anyone would take him along.” After dismissing the idea, they decided “that having a holographic doctor with the full consciousness of being a hologram might be fun, and we’d never done anything like that before, except for Moriarty.”
There you have it, gentle reader. Without the character of Moriarty on Star Trek: The Next Generation, we’d never have the Doctor on Voyager. In this way, Trek’s most ambitious villain helped create the franchise’s most complex hero. Thanks to Jeri Taylor’s notes, we also know that, in-universe, Lewis Zimmerman would never have been able to create the Doctor if not for Geordi accidentally creating a sentient Moriarty so Data could have fun. In retrospect, this does make Zimmerman’s arrogance that much weirder. After all, he has a lot of attitude for someone who owes his entire career to the two biggest book nerds in the galaxy!
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