Alden Ehrenreich is on his way to becoming a massive celebrity since he's on the verge of becoming the new Han Solo. He'd be forgiven for being a bit nervous to take on such a task, but as it turns out, playing the role isn't what's most bizarre about the situation. The young actor says that what's odd about the situation is that, because Star Wars has been such a big part of his life, it all feels comfortable. He has stood on board the Millennium Falcon, and he felt like it wasn't the first time.
What's odd about [being on the Millennium Falcon] is that it's all so familiar. I mean I've known it since I was a kid -- I played make-believe as a kid, pretending that I was on it. So the fact that I already know the world so well, there's a comfort in that and a real excitement. I mean I got to work with Chewbacca for my screen test. I can't think of another form of transportation that is so beloved in film."
The love for the Millennium Falcon that Alden Ehrenreich talks about is real. Watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens on opening night I still remember the cheer that erupted from the crowd when the Falcon first appeared on screen.
At 26 years old, Alden Ehrenreich was born in between the two Star Wars trilogies. Like pretty much every kid who was born after 1977, he was certainly exposed to Star Wars and like so many others, liked to pretend that he was Han Solo. Reading this from Fandango, we could be reading this about nearly any other actor of around the same age. On the one hand, seeing a fantasy like that come true has to be wild, but at the same time, it makes sense that something that has been a part of his life for so long could also be very comforting. How many of us could literally give somebody a tour of the Millennium Falcon, even though we've never been on board? We've seen it enough that we already know where everything is.
Alden Ehrenreich beat out just about every young actor in Hollywood for the chance to play Han Solo in a standalone film that will follow him as a young man in events prior to Star Wars: A New Hope. We know little about the details of the film at this point, beyond the fact that Donald Glover will co-star as Lando Calrissian, and that Chewbacca will also appear.
We won't have to wait quite as long for the new Han Solo movie as we have for the rest of the current Star Wars crop. Rather than being a Christmas release, Han Solo will hit the screen in the summer of 2018.
