The lead up to the release of Solo: A Star Wars Story has been consumed by the drama of the production. The original directors were fired, Ron Howard came in for months of reshoots that have led to a crunch of editing before its May 25 release, and rumors of the new Han Solo, Alden Ehrenreich, needing an acting coach have dominated the conversation around the origin story.
Fans are also treading lightly, with murmurs around the action-packed trailers wondering why we should care about Chewie dangling precariously from a speeding train when we know he’s going to live well past Han. It’s an origin story, so what are we as fans going to see here that will be engaging beyond built-in meta-nostalgia? It’ll be cool to see Han win the Millennium Falcon from Lando, but there has to be substance. There needs to be more. This featurette that shows off the expansive world of Solo’s may hint at what makes the character such a lovable bastard.
As Donald Glover says: “We get to meet Han right before he becomes the Han that we know.” Whether this means a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed hotshot pilot gets his first lessons in the life of being a professional, vested scoundrel remains to be seen. Beyond his new pal Chewbacca, will everyone betray Han? Is this story going to be far darker than we expect?
(Via Deadline)