Harrison Ford breathed life into Han Solo across four Star Wars movies, but in a year's time, he won't be the only actor associated with the role. With the Han Solo movie taking place years before A New Hope, Hail, Caesar! star Alden Ehrenreich is stepping into the smuggler's younger boots. It'll certainly be strange for longtime Star Wars enthusiasts and casual fans to see someone else as Han Solo on the big screen, but for Ford, it'll be an especially weird experience. He acknowledged as much earlier this month at Star Wars Celebration when asked if he was looking forward to seeing a Han Solo movie as a fan. After joking "Not really," he said:
Yeah, of course I'll be watching it as a fan. But it'd be weird. It'll be a little weird. But, you know I've met the fella that's going to play the younger Han Solo. Wonderful guy, very sweet, and a very good actor. So I'm delighted in the choice.
While Harrison Ford is keeping an open mind with the Han Solo movie and approves of Alden Ehrenreich's casting, we don't fault him for finding the whole thing weird when questioned by The Star Wars Show. Aside from Indiana Jones, Han Solo is most well-known character, and thanks to Ford's portrayal, Han still ranks as one of the most popular Star Wars heroes. After over three decades away from the dark jacket and DL-44 blaster pistol, Ford reprised the role for The Force Awakens, but his return was short-lived, as Han was killed by Kylo Ren towards the end of the movie. Barring some miraculous resurrection or Han coming back as a Force ghost, Ford's time with the scoundrel is done, and Ehrenreich will be putting his own spin on the character. Having mixed feelings about someone taking what has been "your" role for years is understandable, but ideally Ford will be pleased with Ehrenreich's performance in the end.
The Han Solo movie will follow the eponymous protagonist from age 18 to 24, and will show him meeting Chewbacca and obtaining the Millennium Falcon. Along with Alden Ehrenreich as Han, the cast consists of Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, Woody Harrelson as Han's mentor Beckett, Emilia Clarke, Thandie Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Michael K. Williams, Ian Kenny and Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are directing, while Lawrence and Jon Kasdan wrote the script.
The still-untitled Han Solo movie will be released on May 25, 2018. As for Harrison Ford, he's keeping busy by reprising some of his other classic characters. He'll appear as Rick Deckard this October in Blade Runner 2049, and he'll be back wielding the whip when Indiana Jones 5 comes out on July 10, 2020.
