Disney and Lucasfilm announced this week that The LEGO Movie directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller will helm an upcoming standalone film in the “Star Wars Anthology” series featuring Han Solo, the iconic smuggler played by Harrison Ford in the original Star Wars trilogy. The film will follow Han Solo in his early years, and chronicle the events that shaped him into the rogue pilot of the Millennium Falcon that audiences first met in 1977’s Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.
“This is the first film we’ve worked on that seems like a good idea to begin with,” joked Miller and Lord in a joint statement accompanying the announcement on StarWars.com. “We promise to take risks, to give the audience a fresh experience, and we pledge ourselves to be faithful stewards of these characters who mean so much to us.”
“This is a dream come true for us,” continues the statement. “And not the kind of dream where you’re late for work and all your clothes are made of pudding, but the kind of dream where you get to make a film with some of the greatest characters ever, in a film franchise you’ve loved since before you can remember having dreams at all.”
Along with The LEGO Movie, Miller and Lord also directed the successful big-screen adaptation of 21 Jump Street and its sequel, 22 Jump Street, as well as the 2009 animated film Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs.
The script for the Han Solo standalone movie will be penned by Oscar-nominated writer Lawrence Kasdan and his son, Jon Kasdan. Lawrence Kasdan penned the screenplays for both Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, and is part of the writing team (along with director J.J. Abrams) on the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens.
“We’re so excited to be working with Chris and Phil, who will bring a fresh new dimension to the Star Wars universe,” said the Kasdans in their own joint statement. “They’re two of the smartest, funniest and most original filmmakers around, and the ideal choice to tell the story of Han Solo, one of the coolest characters in the galaxy.”
Now that the writing and directing teams have been finalized, the next step will likely be the quest to find a leading man capable of playing a younger version of the character Ford made his own decades ago — no small task, given how iconic the role has become for several generations of fans.
The still-untitled Han Solo movie is currently scheduled to hit theaters May 25, 2018.
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