[Warning: Ahead there are spoilers for Solo: A Star Wars Story.]
In what will probably go down as one of the more polarizing scenes during Solo: A Star Wars Story, we learn that “Solo” is not Han’s given birth name. We never find out what his birth name actually is beyond “Han,” but we do find out that an Imperial Officer bequeaths Han with that least name “Solo” because Han was trying to join the Imperial Acedemy by himself and the signup sheet required a last name. (I guess this is why Bossk didn’t join the Imperial Academy.)
So we asked Jonathan Kasdan what Han’s future son and murderer, Kylo Ren, would think of learning the he got his birth name, Ben Solo, from a random Imperial Officer?
Jonathan Kasdan says, “I think he’d be very conflicted about it!” Adding, “I think he’d love that it was a little bit of a torture to his father.”
Later in the film, Han mentions how his father used to build starships and recalls a memory of his father let him sit in one of those starships. So we now know Han’s father certainly didn’t have the last name “Solo.” But did he have a last name, or was this a first name only family? Jonathan’s father Lawrence Kasdan answered this one.
“He is so vague on what his real history is,” says Lawrence Kasdan. “And he knows he was alienated from his father. He idolized him! And when his father took him up to that ship and let him sit there, he was thrilled. But it was one of the few moments of connections between them.”
And who did the Kasdans base this relationship on? Well, it was none other than Bruce Springsteen’s and The Boss’ relationship with his own father. So, yes, Bruce Springsteen is now in Star Wars canon.
“We had both read Springsteen’s biography right around when we were working on it,” says Jonathan Kasdan. “It’s amazing. And we were touched by his relationship with his father. And we thought that it was a different kind of attitude to have about a parent than we’ve seen in Star Wars. And we thought that would be cool.”
Lawrence Kasdan adds one more point, “And then Lando jumps in and says, ‘On the other hand, my mother was a fantastic person,’ but Han says nothing in response to that. So his childhood was pretty grim.”
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