Cue the music and ascending prologue reel. After what seems like an age of being the most talked about untitled movie on the chalk board, Ron Howard has just confirmed the name… Solo: A Star Wars Story. It’ll be the second Star Wars anthology film following up on last year’s Rogue One and as the name, and untitled former non-moniker, implies, it’s the story of a young Han Solo as he sets about being the best smuggler in the galaxy.
Director, Ron Howard has been tweeting updates from behind the scenes on the production throughout filming, so there has been plenty to get excited about. The announcement of the name of the film came earlier today (October 17th, 2017) in the little video below as filming wrapped on the set of the production.
Ron Howard tweets Solo
Hey #Twitterville we just wrapped production so here’s a special message #StarWars pic.twitter.com/8QJqN5BGxr
— Ron Howard (@RealRonHoward) October 17, 2017
Now that we have the name and the filming is all done and dusted, it shouldn’t be too long before we start to see more of the film itself. A teaser trailer should be coming out in the Not too distant future, along with the all-important Star Wars poster. The film will be hitting cinemas in May 2018, so there isn’t that much time to go, leaving Howard with a lot of post-production to finish up. He’s also got narrator duties for Arrested Development Series 5, so it’s going to be one busy winter for the director.
The video for the announcement of the Solo movie name features Ron Howard looking and sounding every bit like Ritchie Cunningham as he delivers the news with the help of Chewie’s arms. You can tell he’s had an amazing time on set bringing the film together and with the likes of Apollo 13, Rush, A Beautiful Mind and Frost Nixon in his back catalogue there’s a lot of anticipation for his first Star Wars movie.
The name builds on the previous announcements of the cast for the film, which will feature Alden Ehrenreich (Hail, Caesar!) as the young Han Solo, taking over the reigns from Harrison Ford. They’re big space boots to fill though, especially with the character’s death at the hands of his son Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, so the pressure is going to be on.
The other iconic role in the film is the young Lando Calrissian, which has gone to Donald Glover (Spider-Man: Homecoming), who will be walking in the footsteps of Billy Dee Williams from The Empire Strikes Back and The Return Of The Jedi. The rest of the cast includes Woody Harrelson (War For The Planet Of The Apes), Emilia Clarke (Terminator Genisys), Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag Series 2) and Thandie Newton (Rogue).
The story for Solo has been written by Lawrence Kasdan, who oversaw The Empire Strikes Back, The Return Of The Jedi and The Force Awakens, so we should be looking at another great addition to the Star Wars franchise. He’s co-writer with his son Jon (Californication) and with Star Wars: The Last Jedi still due out later this year, there’s a lot for fans to look forward to.
