Just by virtue of the fact that a movie is aStar Warsmovie, it will have very high expectations placed on it. The upcoming youngHan Solo movieis already going to have extra high expectations and pressure placed upon it because we are going to have to try and accept someone other thanHarrison Fordas the iconic smuggler. Now starWoody Harrelsonhas added to those expectations by saying he thinks theHan Solomovie is going to be the bestStar Warsmovie.
The actor recently spoke withColliderand naturally, the subject of theHan Solomovie came up. He talked about working with directorsPhil LordandChris Miller, saying that he is feeling extremely positive about the movie so far. Surprisingly positive. Here is what he had to say about it.
“They’re great. You know, any movie’s only as good as the director or in this case directors, and so I have a suspicion, because if you look at the whole, all the movies, the backlog of every one of these movies, there’s a lot of great stuff, but one might not be not as good with the writing in this or the acting in that or the directing in that, this has great actors, great directors, great script, and I really feel like we’re gonna make the best one.”
That is a bold statement no matter how you slice it.Woody Harrelsondoesn’t strike one as the kind of guy who is a hardcoreStar Warsnut, so he probably doesn’t have the same feelings many of us do about most of those movies. But he is most definitely aware of what those movies mean to many people and how good many of them are considered to be in the pantheon of cinema. So, to say they are going to make the “best one” is a big deal. Granted, nobody is actually expecting theHan Solomovie to actually be better thanThe Empire Strikes Backbut still,Woody Harrelsonmakes a good point about a great team being in place. They at least have the tools and pieces in place to make agreat Star Wars movie.
As for whoWoody Harrelsonis playing, that hasn’t officially been revealed by Disney and Lucasfilm but it is being widely speculated (and even seemingly revealed by the actor himself) that he is playingGarris Shrike. In theStar Wars Legendsmaterial, which is everything made before Disney took over and reset the canon in 2012, Garris Shrike was a mentor figure to Han Solo and that is howWoody Harrelson’s character has been described. Even if he isn’t actually playing Garris Shrike it seems very much like the characterWoody Harrelsonis playing will be taking some cues from him.
Han Solo: A Star Wars StorystarsAlden Ehrenreich,Donald Glover,Emilia Clarke,Thandie Newton,Michael K. Williams,Phoebe Waller-BridgeandWoody Harrelson. The movie is being directed byPhil LordandChris Millerwith a script fromJon KasdanandLawrence Kasdan. The youngHan Solomovie is set for release on July 31, 2025.
