There’s a quite a bit to talk about in the “Star Wars” universe, not only with “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” arriving in a few short months, but also the “Anthology” series spin-offs that are also coming. Next year, Gareth Edwards will deliver “Star Wars: Rogue One,” and the plan had been for Josh Trank to follow in 2018 with his own anthology picture. However, the “Fantastic Four” mess saw him removed and/or exit that job (depending on who you ask) and a spin-off Han Solo movie directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller was put into its place. While speaking to EW, Kennedy revealed the approach to the Han Solo movie, and the fate of Trank’s movie.
“There’s got to be a reason for [the stand-alone film] to be. And obviously the thing that ‘Star Wars’ has always done so well is it doesn’t spend a lot of time [explaining] the stories that have come before. We don’t want to do that either. We don’t want to spend time going back and answering a lot of questions that, quite frankly, I don’t think people want answered,” she said. And it’s frankly a relief to hear this just be an origin story, and while the character will be young, he won’t be that young.
“He’ll definitely be probably in the high teens, low 20s. We’re not introducing you to a 10-year-old Han Solo,” Kennedy said, also elaborating on the overall approach to the story. “I think the key here is that we are identifying an event or events in Han Solo’s life that gives you some idea of who he is and why he is the character we have all known to love.”
So, it seems they are on a good path, but what about Trank’s movie, which reportedly would’ve focused on Boba Fett? “It’s still one of the stories that we absolutely want to tell,” Kennedy said, though she wouldn’t confirm if the movie was about the iconic bounty hunter or not. “There is a lot of innovative technology in and around what it is we’re doing with that story, so for a lot of reasons, we were comfortable postponing that. But we’re definitely still developing it.” Projected release date? Likely in 2020.
That’s just the latest and as the world braces for ‘The Force Awakens,’ there will surely be more to come.
Is Kentucker Audley playing a young Han Solo/Deckard yet?
i just hope they show the kessel run.
Jim – exactly! She said the things Star Wars has done WELL. Answering questions of the past in the prequels is clearly where they did not do well.
"And obviously the thing that \’Star Wars\’ has always done so well is it doesn’t spend a lot of time [explaining] the stories that have come before. We don’t want to do that either. We don’t want to spend time going back and answering a lot of questions that, quite frankly, I don’t think people want answered”. Wait, huh? That\’s exactly what the prequels did. Three entire movies of going back and answering questions, most of which didn\’t need to be answered or rehashed, lol. I love Star Wars as much as anyone but I\’d rather than do an Old Republic era movie (set in the timeframe of the video games) or make a movie that doesn\’t involve re-doing a major character like Han Solo. This sounds exactly like what she said they weren\’t going to do….going back and answering a bunch of questions about Han Solo that didn\’t need to be answered. If they do a great job with it, then awesome but I just hope they don\’t water down the character and his legacy with an unnecessary "origin" tale.
I\’m excited to see what they do with a 20 year old Han Solo (and hopefully Lando as well), but man, what a burden this is on whoever they cast. Talk about pressure. How can this kid possibly measure up to Harrison Ford?
***iconic BOUNTY hunter