Seven months ago Harrison Ford seemed pretty certain he was going to be in Star Wars: Episode VII. When asked about it he said, “I think it’s almost true. I’m looking forward to it. It’s not in the bag yet, but I think it’ll happen, and I’m delighted.” Now he’s saying something else, and it’s not good news.
While appearing on Graham Norton’s BBC chat show this week, Ford was less enthusiastic when asked about Star Wars: Episode VII. In fact he says he has “not quite made the choice” over whether or not he’ll agree to play Han Solo in the film.
UPDATE! Video footage of the Harrison Ford interview with Graham Norton was not available when we first wrote this story, but it is now. Watch...
Ford’s responses to Star Wars: Episode VII questions have grown gradually more vague and disinterested since his initial enthusiasm back in March. Jimmy Kimmel got around that by turning his unwillingness to answer Star Wars questions into a comedic bit which, to Ford’s credit he was more than happy to play along with…
I guess we should have seen this coming, but the rest of the Star Wars original cast has seemed so eager to get to work, I think the tendency among Star Wars fans was to assume that Harrison was also all in. Well he isn’t, at least not yet, and maybe it’s time to get a little bit worried.
This may just be Harrison trying to stall things so he can focus on promoting Ender’s Game, after which he'll jump in with both feet. That’s the theory being floated in some quarters, anyway. He might fear a Star Wars announcement will draw attention away from Ender, and he’s probably right about that.
No matter what Harrison thinks, though, rumor has it that official casting and title announcements for Star Wars: Episode VII may be coming before the week is out. Given Harrison’s most recent responses, it seems pretty likely that he won’t be included in those announcements, if indeed they are imminent. If he waits too long, at some point the production is going to move forward with out him, and Star Wars without Han Solo, well that just isn’t Star Wars.
