Advertisement
Han Solo to star in second standalone Star Wars film, Lucasfilm confirms
July 8, 2015
MICHAEL IDATO
The iconic Star Wars character Han Solo is to be the subject of the second standalone Star Wars spin-off movie.
The Disney-owned studio Lucasfilm has already announced plans for its first standalone film, Star Wars: Rogue One, which will be released internationally in 2016.
The film, which does not yet have a title, will focus on a young Han Solo, at the beginning of his career as a smuggler.
Advertisement
When film audiences met in him in 1977's Star Wars, he was an established smuggler whose claim to fame was that his ship, the Millennium Falcon, could "make the Kessel run in 12 parsecs".
He was played in the original Star Wars films by actor Harrison Ford, who is poised to reprise the role in the so-called "sequel trilogy", which begins with this year's Star Wars, Episode VII: The Force Awakens.
Because of the time period of the planned film, the role of Han Solo would obviously be recast.
It would most likely focus on Solo's acquisition of the Millennium Falcon, and the beginning of his friendship with the Falcoon's Wookie co-pilot Chewbacca.
It may also include a younger version of Lando Calrissian, whom Solo knew in his youth.
Another former smuggler, Calrissian was introduced in 1980's The Empire Strikes Back as a mining administrator and was played by Billy Dee Williams.
The standalone "origin story" for Han Solo is due in cinemas in 2018.
It will be directed by Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, the directing partnership behind 21 Jump Street and The Lego Movie.
The script will be written by Lawrence Kasdan and Jon Kasdan.
The 66-year-old Lawrence Kasdan was the co-writer of the second and third original Star Wars trilogy films, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
He was also the co-writer of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
In a statement, Miller and Lord pledged to be "faithful stewards of these characters who mean so much to us."
The pair added that it was a dream "to make a film with some of the greatest characters ever, in a film franchise you've loved since before you can remember having dreams at all."
Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy said the Kasdans know "all there is to know about the character, and Chris and Phil will bring their wit, style, energy and heart to tell Han's story."
"It's not just any filmmaker who can tell the story of such a beloved icon like Han Solo, and I'm excited to say we've found the perfect team," she said.
In the infancy of the Star Wars movie franchise, the character of Han Solo was given a spin-off treatment in three novels written by author Brian Daley in 1979 and 1980: Han Solo at Star's End, Han Solo's Revenge and Han Solo and the Lost Legacy.
The books, along with a fourth book, Splinter of the Mind's Eye, published in 1978, were the first novel spin-offs to the Star Wars saga.
Disney will release the standalone films in alternate years to the Star Wars trilogy films. The first of the new trilogy films, The Force Awakens, is due out at the end of this year; the second will be released in 2017.
The first standalone film, Rogue One, will be released in 2016 and will focus on the raid which delivered the Death Star plans to the Rebel Alliance, setting the scene for the original 1977 Star Wars film.
http://m.theage.com.au/entertainment/movies/han-solo-to-star-in-second-standalone-star-wars-film-lucasfilm-confirms-20150708-gi7c5f.htmlEdited by Joffa: 9/7/2015 03:40:37 PMEdited by Joffa: 9/7/2015 03:42:04 PM