We are still barely coming down from the high of The Last Jedi and already another piece of the Star Wars universe is coming at us at light-speed...
Solo: A Star Wars Story is due out in just four months, but only now do we have a first teaser trailer for the prequel/spinoff to the original Star Wars saga. Teased last night during the Super Bowl and released in full this morning on ABC, we now have a better idea of what to expect from this tale of the early days of Han Solo.
Well, sort of.
Going into it, we already knew/assumed a few things – that this would tell us how Han became a smuggler, how he came into possession of the Millennium Falcon, and how he became besties with Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian. The new trailers don’t shed that much more light on the plot, but there are a few tidbits to be gleaned, such as:
- It appears that Han (Alden Ehrenreich) got his start in the smuggling game by working for the Empire, which is an interesting twist indeed.
- Han was a latchkey kid, having been “running scams on the streets since I was 10.”
- Han was kicked out of the Flight Academy but still has designs on being the best pilot in the Galaxy.
- The Millennium Falcon once looked pristine… I guess Han’s not too keen on upkeep??
- He and a ragtag group of people go on a “mission” for Woody Harrelson’s character, who does NOT appear to be an Empire guy, but ya never quite know where people’s loyalties lie…
- The big bad villain looks like a Sauron cosplayer.
- Emilia Clarke’s character is a possible love interest? (Say it ain’t so!!!)
- OF COURSE Lando (Donald Glover) is rocking a huge fur coat. Just out of frame, presumably, is a solid gold cane, platform shoes, and a feathered hat.
So my immediate impression of this film is that it looks like The Fast and The Furious In Space, which I suppose isn’t going to be too outrageous a concept when dealing with the story of Han Solo, since being a pilot is his jam. I’m also getting some American Graffiti vibes…
Okay, fun fact: Solo director Ron Howard, as well as OG Han Solo Harrison Ford, were both stars in 1973’s American Graffiti, which just so happened to be directed by … Star Wars creator George Lucas! The movie was basically just about a bunch of teens who go cruising around town one night in their pimped-out rides. So yeah, you can see where there might be some parallels here.
As it is, Ron Howard isn’t exactly known for action movies, the closest he’s gotten arguably being Apollo 13. Howard is more of a character-driven director, so here’s hoping it’s not all just space fights and PEW-PEW’ing. I’m also curious to see if this movie will give us any insight to Han’s future relationships – keep in mind, this is a movie about Kylo Ren’s father. There’s actually not a whole lot we know about Han’s relationship with his son, nor with his wife Leia, but maybe there are fragments in this film that we can use to see a bigger picture. Right off the bat, learning that Han was a “problem child” himself is an interesting piece of the puzzle…
Find out more when Solo drops on Memorial Day!
(Image via Lucasfilm)
- Katie Marzullo, YH Staff Editor
katie@younghollywood.com