Development of a Star Wars movie is always a pretty secretive affair, but the upcoming Han Solo solo film (typing that still makes me double-take) is taking this to a whole new level. You would think that a movie about a smuggler would see somebody actually smuggle out some details, but alas. So all we officially know right now is that Disney and Lucasfilm have cast Alden Ehrenreich to play the young version of Harrison Ford’s famous character, The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street‘s Phil Lord and Chris Miller will direct and the film was written by Star Wars veteran Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jon.
But Variety is reporting on some news that may just add a very intriguing detail to the whole Star Wars saga. According to the report, three young actresses have apparently gone to London (where most of the Star Wars production takes place) to test for the lead female role in the upcoming anthology film. The actresses are Creed and Dear White People star Tessa Thompson, Mad Max: Fury Road and Divergent actress Zoe Kravitz and newcomer Naomi Scott who had small roles in The 33 and The Martian and will be playing the Pink Ranger Kimberly in the upcoming Power Rangers reboot.
I don’t know Scott well, but the other two are great young talents that would be good additions for the Star Wars universe. What’s most intriguing though is the potential part they could play. This movie takes place before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope when we first met Han Solo, so it’s basically unexplored territory now that old Expanded Universe material has been declared defunct.
However, the brand new tie-in materials, like the comics and novels, are now considered 100% canon. And in Marvel’s current Star Wars comic book (which takes place between the events of A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back), writer Jason Aaron introduced a brand new character: Han Solo’s wife Sana. Well, kind of wife. When we meet Sana Solo nee Starros, she’s on the hunt for Han, and manages to trap him and Leia on a planet before revealing her marriage to him. Something that throws a definite spanner in the works for the still infant romance between Han and Leia. Eventually though we learn that she was actually a smuggler who once teamed up with Han years before and as part of the con they were pulling had to marry him. However, during the job, the scoundrel Han left her high and dry and absconded with her cut of the job. To say she she hadn’t forgiven him was an understatement.
Thompson, Kravitz and Scott could all be good physical matches for Sana, and it may be very cool to perhaps see this infamous con job actually played out on screen. When Lucasfilm ditched the old EU stuff, they did state that any new ancillary materials will be tying into the movies much closer than in the past. We’ve only seen that sparingly thus far (Forrest Whittaker’s Rogue One character was introduced in the Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon) but if they do go with the Sana angle this would be the first time we see something this major crossover.
Of course, when Lord and Miller cast the young Han Solo they famously saw literally thousands of actors before settling on Ehrenreich (who ironically was actually the very first actor they tested). So who knows? In in a month or two we could see completely different names on this list, shooting down all our theories again.
The still untitled Han Solo Star Wars film is set to debut on May 25, 2018.
Last Updated: October 7, 2016
