Alden Ehrenreich meets with Han Solo originator Harrison Ford

Alden Ehrenreich was spotted grabbing lunch with his Han Solo predecessor Harrison Ford on Wednesday (04Jan17).

The Indiana Jones star played the smuggler in the original Star Wars trilogy and reprised the role in 2015's The Force Awakens, in which he was killed off. The character of Han Solo will continue to live on in form of Alden, who will play him in a standalone spin-off movie about Han's younger years.

Alden has made no secret of his desire to chat to Harrison ahead of the shoot, and his wishes seemed to come true on Wednesday when they met up at a restaurant in Santa Monica, California.

A picture taken by Twitter user Nico Sotomayor through the glass window of the eatery appears to show Harrison and Alden deep in conversation, with the caption reading, "Two Han Solos grabbing lunch."

The meeting is in contrast to the comments Harrison made at the The Force Awakens press conference in December, 2015, when he said he wanted no involvement in the prequel.

"I'm glad that somebody else is going to have the burden of being young," he said. "It's well beyond my understanding or control and I want nothing to do with it, in the nicest possible way. I know it will be well done... it's nothing to do with me."

Alden, 27, reportedly beat off competition from Taron Egerton and Jack Reynor to be Han Solo, with his casting confirmed at the Star Wars Celebration Europe event in London in July (16).

He also told The Wrap last year (16) he was hoping to speak with Harrison about the character, adding, "I haven't asked yet but I'm hopeful it will happen."

He will be joined by Donald Glover, who will portrayed a younger version of Billy Dee Williams' character Lando Calrissian while Woody Harrelson has reportedly join the cast to play Han's mentor and Game of Thrones' Emilia Clarke is also attached.

The film was scheduled to be released in May, 2018 but recent reports suggest it has been pushed back to December, 2018.