By Alan Duke
(CNN) – Harrison Ford suffered an ankle injury while filming the next Star Wars installment, Disney Studios said Thursday.
Ford, 71, is reprising the Han Solo role that brought him fame in the first Star Wars in 1977.
The injury happened on the set of Star Wars: Episode VII, a Disney statement said. “He was taken to a local hospital and is receiving care. Shooting will continue as planned while he recuperates.”
While the film’s production is taking place at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, England, and Abu Dhabi, Disney did not give the set location.
A spokesman for the British Health And Safety Executive told CNN Thursday that agency officials “have been made aware of an incident at Pinewood studios and are making initial enquiries.”
Director J.J. Abrams recently teased fans looking for any hints about what will be in the next film by posting a photo via his Twitter account.
“I wish people would stop leaking photos from Episode VII. And making ridiculous claims that the Millennium Falcon is in the movie,” Abrams said in a handwritten note on top of the hologram chessboard from the original Star Wars, which was in the Falcon.
A number of images from the secretive Episode VII set have appeared online, showing, among other things, a replica of Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon under construction.
Episode VII is scheduled to be released on December 18, 2015.
CNN’s Carolyn Sung and Lindsay Isaac contributed to this report.