Hayden Christensen aside, the Star Wars films are remarkably well cast. Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher added a spark to George Lucas’ often-stilted dialogue; Mark Hamill was the perfect whiny farm-boy; it’s not Ewan McGregor or Natalie Portman’s fault that the prequels are objectively terrible; Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, and Oscar Isaac are a charismatic threesome that rivals the original trio; and no one rocks a cape quite like Ben Mendelsohn.
That strong work in the casting department has continued with the Han Solo spinoff movie. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have assembled a solid group of actors so far, led by Alden Ehrenreich (anyone who saw Hail, Caesar! knows he was meant to be a star) and Donald Glover as Han and Lando, with Emilia Clarke and Woody Harrelson filling out the call sheet. The latest rumored addition to the Star Wars universe is Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the creator and star of one of the funniest (and raunchiest) shows you’re probably not watching, Fleabag (which is the only thing Leia didn’t call Chewie).
Variety reports that Waller-Bridge is in talks for a “CGI-driven performance” that would be a “significant part of the ensemble, similarly to key Star Wars characters in the past like C-3P0 and, most recently, Alan Tudyk’s K-2SO in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” She won’t be playing Chewbacca, but someone like Han Solo’s favorite fuzzball. Unlike Fleabag’s favorite fuzzballs.
Will Chewie (what a Wookiee) even be in the movie? According to Ehrenreich, yes. “He’s as much younger as I am in the film,” he said. “So, I think he’s like 190 — or something — years old. I don’t think there’s a huge growth spurt for him from 190 to 210, so he’s probably about the same height.”
Maybe Waller-Bridge can play Lumpy?
(Via Variety)
