Fans were excited last week when Lucasfilm officially announced that Alden Ehrenreich would be taking on the role of a young Han Solo. We knew about the movie planned for 2018, but it turns out there may be more going on than simply that. A new report is claiming that Ehrenreich's contract with Disney isn't simply for that single film, but actually for three movies.
The Daily News just reported that, according to a source they have, if the first Han Solo movie is a success, two more will be following behind it, and they already have Alden Ehrenreich under contract if that happens. Apparently, because they have a fairly open timeline to play with, with many adventures that Han could have had before meeting up with Luke and Obi-Wan at Mos Eisley, they see a lot of promise in the character going forward. The source claims:
They feel that his character has the right potential to become a central figure in several movies. They're keeping things under wraps at the moment, but the deal is that he has signed for at least three movies.
This opens up a number of different possibilities about where the Star Wars franchise as a whole could be going in the coming years. Apparently, the feeling is that since Han Solo didn't really get involved in the Rebellion against the Empire until the original Star Wars trilogy, they could tell many stories that have Han involved in very different adventures, involving entirely new places or characters. It honestly seems to have a "Han and Chewie as Guardians of the Galaxy" feel as it's being described here.
The current Star Wars film slate includes this winter's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the two additional episodes of the current trilogy, the announced Han Solo film, and a fifth film set to release in 2020 that has yet to be announced. We thought we might hear something about it at Star Wars Celebration a couple weeks back, but nothing was said. Rumors have stated that the film is meant to be a Boba Fett story, but if Lucasfilm is considering additional Han Solo movies, they may be eyeing that spot for the second film in that new franchise, two years after the first one would be just about right.
Regardless of whether or not we see a second Han Solo movie that soon, the fact Lucasfilm is tentatively planning for more is the first indication we've really had of where Disney is looking to take the Star Wars franchise once the current trilogy reaches its conclusion. The studio has been clear that they plan to make one new Star Wars movie every year, but what sorts of stories that they plan to tell have been unclear.
What do you think about the possibility of an entire trilogy of Han Solo movie? Are you excited by the prospect of even more, or is digging into the backstory of existing characters the wrong way to go with Star Wars? Let us know in the comments.
