TheStar Warsmovies are rolling right along. Last week, we got theofficial title forStar Wars: Episode VIII, and today filming is underway onPhil LordandChris Miller’sStar Warsspinoff featuringAlden Ehrenreichas young Han Solo. Ehrenreich will star alongsideDonald Glover, who plays young Lando Calrissian, as well asWoody Harrelson,who plays Han’s mentor, andEmilia Clarkein an unknown role.
Millertweeted out the followingtoday along with a joke thatStar Warsfans know all too well.
It’s an encouraging sign that Lord and Miller know that this Han Solo isn’t the sanitized one who let Greedo get off a shot before firing back. This will probably be the Han Solo they grew up with, and perhaps even a little rougher around the edges since we’ll be meeting a younger version of the character. While we’ve seen the risks of meeting younger versions of beloved characters in theStar Warsuniverse (it was not an improvement for Darth Vader or Boba Fett), Lord and Miller are better writers thanGeorge Lucas.
Details on the film are still scarce. We don’t know the plot, we don’t know Clarke’s character, and we don’t know how Lord and Miller will handle the material. In the hands of lesser directors, we could probably expect a bunch of trite callbacks with the characters referencing carbonite and other lame winks to the audience. But time and again, Lord and Miller have proven they can take ideas that seem misguided and spin them into gold. CinematographerBradford Younghas already revealed that this spinoff will be “dirty sci-fi” and that the film will be“unexpected” and “dramatic.”
This slate that Miller posted doesn’t tell us much about the movie other than they’re shooting on digital (you’re able to see from the 6K resolution) and that their going under the working title “Red Cup”, a play on “Solo” brand plastic cups.
The Untitled Han Solo movie is set for release in 2018. For more on the film, click on the links below.
