Today, Lucasfilm confirmed that Woody Harrelson has signed on for an unspecified role in the Han Solo standalone film due for release in 2018.
Apparently, Lucasfilm doesn’t particularly care about what I think or that they could be steering their own franchise down a dark road. As announced today, Woody Harrelson has officially joined the Han Solo standalone film in an unspecified role. Rumors pose that he’ll be playing Han Solo’s mentor, a la Haymitch in The Hunger Games. While I consider Harrelson a tremendous actor, I worry about his place in the Star Wars franchise. However, the directors of the Han Solo standalone, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, don’t share these sentiments.
In the announcement, they said:
"“We couldn’t be more excited to work with an artist with as much depth and range as Woody. His ability to find both humor and pathos, often in the same role, is truly unique. He is also very good at ping pong.”"
To be fair, Harrelson’s only the most recent cast addition that has us scratching our heads. He’s joining a movie that consists of Alden Ehrenreich and his un-Han Solo-like curly hair, and another brunette named Emilia Clarke of Game of Thrones fame.
But because it’s Star Wars, I’m going to give the studio the benefit of the doubt. The last time I worried on their behalf, we got Rogue One, which I love immensely. Plus, these directors have films in their pocket that I’ve really enjoyed, like The LEGO Movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and the Jump Street films.
Not to mention, it’s all aboard the Donald Glover train now. The question still remains whether we’ll see this movie in May or December 2018, so stay tuned.
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Before the Han Solo movie, Episode VIII hits theaters on Dec. 15, 2017.