When Disney bought Star Wars from George Lucas for a staggering sum of $4.05 billion, the news was met with a mixture of excitement and fear – yes, there were undoubtedly going to be more Star Wars films and inevitably spin-offs, but would they be good? Would it be too much?
Judging from the warm reception of the previous spin-off instalment, Rogue One, it seems as though our fears have been put to rest for now. And still they stay away as more and more details on the upcoming Han Solo spin-off film make us more and more excited.
Writers and Directors
Even from just the writers and directors we have cause to relax and feel we’re in good hands. Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the geniuses that managed to make a film made entirely of Lego one of the most enjoyable films of 2014 in The Lego Movie. If they bring that level of fun and comedy it will be a fun, swashbuckling film perfectly befitting of the character of Han Solo. The writers too are exciting news since they are none other than Jon and Lawrence Kasdan, the latter being not only the director of Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, but also the writer for that as well as Episode VI: Return of the Jedi along with Raiders of the Lost Ark (one of my all time favourites). With experts like these, we’re clearly in safe, very competent and exciting hands.
The Cast So Far
Now on to the cast, some details of which have recently been announced. The latest additions to the eclectic cast as reported by Making Star Wars include Ian Kenny as Rebolt, Harley Durst as Moloch and Tien Hoang as the henchman to Moloch. Ian Kenny is best known as Barry from Sing Street, while Tien Hoang is relatively new and Harley Durst is primarily a stuntman, with impressive credits from an array of superhero films, such as The Wolverine and upcoming films Wonder Woman and Thor: Ragnarok.
In addition to these, two other characters have previously been announced; namely Mother Proxima and Val. Mother Proxima is to be a typical Star Wars puppet operated by Dave Chapman (one of the two operators for BB-8); Val is reportedly involved in stunts at Pinewood and may get top-billing… So given her recent fame as Khaleesi in Game of Thrones can we expect Emilia Clarke in this role? Or maybe it will be Thandie Newton or Phoebe Waller-Bridge (the latter best known from BBC’s Fleabag). Neither of these three have announced their characters so it’s all unknown as far as they’re concerned. My personal prediction is that Val will be the love interest that precedes Leia. Along with them Michael Kenneth Williams from 12 Years a Slave has also not has his character’s name announced.
These are all the details we have at the moment – most of the film is shrouded in secrecy, Lucasfilm keen to keep us excited for The Last Jedi first. So far, however, things are looking very, very good. So stay excited!