There are a few things you can always count on when watching a Star Wars movie, and one of those is that the story won't limit its characters to just one planet. Next year's Han Solo movie won't be any exception, as the smuggler's origin story will seem him traveling to several worlds. Since Lucasfilm likes to keep Star Wars movie plot details close to the proverbial chest, we haven't officially learned yet which locations the second Anthology movie will visit. However, director Ron Howard may have just teased that we'll be visiting a planet that was mentioned in A New Hope, but hasn't been seen on the big screen yet: Kessel.
The latest of Ron Howard's Twitter photos from behind the scenes of the Han Solo movie shows a rocky shaft leading to an elevator, and Howard's only clue about this setting is "Spicey?" If that elevator leads to some kind of mine like we suspect, it appears that the director has revealed that part of the movie will take place on Kessel, a planet primarily known for its spice mining. For those not steeped in Star Wars lore, it's important to note that in the galaxy far, far away, spice is an illicit substance rather than just something to sprinkle into recipes. We have C-3PO to thank for knowing about Kessel after he expressed his fear to R2-D2 at the beginning of A New Hope that the two of them would be sent to the spice mines of Kessel and be "smashed into who knows what."
However, Kessel's importance in the Han Solo movie would likely extend beyond its spice operations. Later in A New Hope, Han bragged to Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi about how the Millennium Falcon made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. We've know for a while that Han's ship will appear in the spinoff movie, although given the time period and Lando Calrissian's involvement, presumably the vessel still belongs to the future Cloud City administrator at this point. Nevertheless, if we will indeed be visiting Kessel in the Han Solo movie, perhaps this means we'll finally see Han break that record aboard the Millennium Falcon.
While Kessel appeared in several Star Wars Expanded Universe books, comics and video games, so far the planet's biggest canon appearance has been in the Star Wars Rebels TV series. It also looks like Han Solo will be visiting Tatooine in his upcoming solo movie, but so far that and Kessel are the only two worlds that have been hinted at or unofficially revealed (although there's been speculation over whether or not the Death Star will also appear).
The Han Solo movie arrives in theaters on May 25, 2018. You can get your Star Wars fix before that by seeing The Last Jedi starting December 15, and don't forget to look through our 2017 movie premiere guide to see what else is being released this year.
