Seeing as Han Solo shot first and straddled the line between the life of a criminal and hero, it’s fair to assume his mentor may be questionable as well.
Hopefully, this has been removed from contention already, but anytime Disney sees dollar signs, they pursue the venture with full force. And of course, that applies to everything the company owns as well, especially in regards to the studios like Lucasfilm and Marvel.
So it comes as no surprise that the second Rogue One did even kind of well, Lucasfilm would jump into action with their second standalone, Han Solo. After Rogue One‘s theatrical run, Lucasfilm hit us with a barrage of new information concerning the film. The biggest piece of news is still the big, star-studded cast that includes Donald Glover, Woody Harrelson and Emilia Clarke. Of course, the titular character will be played by Alden Ehrenreich, but it remains to be seen whether he can actually immerse himself into the role. More importantly, will he be able to deliver as much spark as Harrison Ford once did?
Instead of wondering about Han Solo specifically, we can turn to other members of the cast, ones whose roles still remain a mystery. While we’ve gotten hints that Harrelson will play a mentor figure, we don’t know much else.
Luckily, while shooting in London, Harrelson told The Evening Standard:
"“I am totally psyched to be making a Star Wars film. But the secrecy is on another level. What I can say he’s a good character, he is a mentor to Han and a criminal, but good at heart.”"
Essentially, as is incredibly easy to surmise, Harrelson’s mentor/criminal background sounds exactly like the background we know Han Solo had as well. When we first met him in A New Hope, he came from a seedy background of smuggling and gambling. This led to his becoming indebted to Jabba the Hutt, which was the only reason he agreed to help Luke Skywalker and Ben Kenobi get to Alderaan. Trust, he wasn’t doing it out of the kindness of his heart — he didn’t even believe in the Force.
But the more time he spent with the Rebellion, the more his heart softened … and we all know how the story goes. So let’s hope that Woody Harrelson’s character doesn’t follow this same exact outline.
Related Story: Report: Han Solo standalone movie goes to Tatooine
Because if Star Wars wants to saturate every inch of the world with content, they at least need to make original stories. As compelling as Rogue One was, they still pulled that from the opening crawl of A New Hope. The Force Awakens also mirrored A New Hope.
Let Han Solo have some aspects that are completely original and not just uber-Han Solo-y, please.