Currently actor and director Jon Favreau has his hands in two corners of the Disney media empire. While his time directing Marvel movies is over, he's still contributing to the Marvel Cinematic Universe by playing Tony Stark's right hand man, Happy Hogan, while in the more central Disney area, he helmed 2016's The Jungle Book and is currently working on The Lion King remake. However, come this May, he'll will also have a presence in the Star Wars movies, as director Ron Howard has revealed that he recruited Favreau for a role in Solo: A Star Wars Story.
On February 2, Jon Favreau posted a picture of himself with Ron Howard and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, and today, Howard revealed on Twitter that he was able to pull Favreau away from The Lion King for a little bit to voice "a very cool and important alien character" for Solo: A Star Wars Story. This won't be Favreau's first time contributing to the Star Wars franchise, as he previously voiced Pre Vizsla, a Mandalorian warrior, in six episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Aside from Chewbacca (and L3-37, if you want to consider Phoebe Waller-Bridge's droid character "alien"), no alien characters in Solo: A Star Wars Story have been identified yet. It's possible the mysterious Moloch isn't human, but until he removes that helmet, we won't know for sure. Michael K. Williams was also supposed to appear as a "half-human, half-animal," but after he was replaced by Pau Bettany, that character was turned into a full human. The Solo: A Star Wars Story trailer did briefly show a small, four-armed alien who was implied to be part of Tobias Beckett's new crew (seen below), so perhaps this is who Ron Howard is talking about. Let's also not discount the possibility that Jon Favreau has earned the honor of being Jabba the Hutt's new voice. Okay, maybe that last one isn't likely, but a fan can dream, right?
In any case, I suspect that even though Jon Favreau's character is "important," he won't have nearly as much screen time as the movie's principal players. Oh, and for those of you wondering if Ron Howard will be voicing anybody in Solo: A Star Wars Story, the director said there's "zero chance" we'll hear him. So there goes all hope of hearing Arrested Development-style narration in the upcoming Star Wars movie.
Solo: A Star Wars Story blasts its way into theaters on May 25, but you can see Jon Favreau a few weeks earlier when he reprises Happy Hogan for Avengers: Infinity War, which arrives on May 4. Don't forget to also browse through our 2018 release schedule to learn what other movies are coming out this year.
