Cantina Talk: Solo Had Two Han Solos Behind the Scenes

March 20, 2019 | Story | No Comments

Let's get this out of the way: You've seen the first trailer (and, before that, the TV spot) for Solo: A Star Wars Story, right? If not, go ahead and do that. OK, now that we have your undivided attention, we can get on with all the other Star Wars news of the last few weeks. And there's a lot. Can you say "a whole new series of movies, and even more"?

The Solo Han Solo Film Had Two Han Solos Behind the Scenes (Got All That?)

The Source: Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy

Probability of Accuracy: If Kennedy is saying it, it’s legit.

The Real Deal: While the new trailers didn’t show much in terms of Alden Ehrenreich’s Han Solo, it was revealed via Entertainment Weekly that the original Han Solo, Harrison Ford, was involved in the making of Solo: A Star Wars Story, acting as an advisor to his successor. “What [Ford] did so beautifully for Alden was he talked a lot about what he remembered when he first read Star Wars, and what George had done with Han,” Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy explained. “Who the character was and the conversations he had for so many years with George about how that character developed… He gave Alden that kind of insight which was invaluable. There were several times in the course of making the movie where Alden would actually recount some of the things that Harrison had pointed out. I think that was really, really helpful to him.” How much of this will come across onscreen, of course, no one will know until May.

Fans Won’t See the Seams In Solo

The Source: Director Ron Howard

Probability of Accuracy: The proof will be in the pudding when the movie’s out, but he seems very sincere, if nothing else.

The Real Deal: EW also talked to director Ron Howard about stepping in and taking over Solo after the dismissal of original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller. When asked about how much of the finished movie is his, versus Lord and Miller’s, he demurred. “I don’t really want to explain it. I don’t really want to be specific about that because, again, I don’t even want that to matter to fans,” he said. “I could understand why you’d ask, and some might even be curious, but look, everybody who has been involved in this has done nothing but love what this movie could be, and that’s been the vibe around it. I think audiences are gonna feel that love and excitement.” Well, that’s the hope, at least…

Winter Is Coming. Kind Of

The Source: An official Lucasfilm announcement

Probability of Accuracy: It’s an official announcement; this is as accurate as it gets.

The Real Deal: In a surprising move, Lucasfilm announced last week that Game of Thrones executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are going to be heading to the galaxy far, far away once their time in Westeros is up, signing on to create a new series of Star Wars movies for the studio. Lucasfilm didn't provide any details beyond that—but that didn’t stop people from speculating that they could be working on a Knights of the Old Republic movie, just like they did when it was announced that Rian Johnson would be working on a new Star Wars movie series. At this point, someone needs to make a real Old Republic movie just so fans won't have to speculate about it anymore.

Are There Secret Star Wars Movies in the Works?

The Source: Mysterious, vague rumors on Twitter

Probability of Accuracy: Who can even tell…?

The Real Deal: The hiring of Weiss and Benioff also launched a conversation online about the fact that Lucasfilm seems unable to hire anyone to make a Star Wars movie who isn’t a white man, at a time when the movies themselves are making efforts to branch out in terms of the diversity of their leads. This piece by Marc Bernardin is a fine example of why this is a problem, and what it means for the future of Star Wars movies and the fandom as a whole. Which is what made these tweets particularly interesting…

…Are there secret Star Wars movies in the works that no one knows about, being made by people that no one knows is working on them? It sounds unlikely and deeply paranoid … but also not entirely impossible, despite that.

A Galaxy Streaming Very Close to You Indeed

The Source: Disney CEO Bob Iger

Probability of Accuracy: It’s a vague announcement, but it's something that Iger has no reason to fib about, so let’s call it accurate.

The Real Deal: Star Wars: Rebels is coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be any more Star Wars on the small screen. Indeed, just the opposite; speaking to investors recently, Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed, “We are developing not just one, but a few Star Wars series specifically for the Disney direct-to-consumer app. We've mentioned that and we are close to being able to reveal at least one of the entities that is developing that for us. Because the deal isn't completely closed, we can't be specific about that.” Multiple series? Start your speculation engines.