While anything can happen in the Star Wars universe—let’s just say that in 1977, people assumed Alec Guinness was one-and-done in the series, given the way the first story went down—there is at least one surefire way you’ll be getting more Han Solo action, though it won’t be with Harrison Ford. The next in the series of Anthology movies (a.k.a. the Star Wars Story movies or whatever they decide to call them next), will focus on the adventures of a younger Han than we saw in A New Hope, with original series scribe Lawrence Kasdan writing (he has always said Han is his favorite character) with 21 Jump Street/LEGO Movie directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller directing.
Sadly, River Phoenix—who aced a young Ford impression in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade—isn’t available, and he’d be too old by now anyway. Chris Pratt, whom many people seem to have as their fantasy choice, is older now than Ford was in ’77. But Variety announced the actual shortlist today, and it has most of the up-and-coming younger male stars you’d expect:
Sources tell Variety that after seeing thousands of actors, execs have cut the list down to about a dozen actors with Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Dave Franco, Jack Reynor, Scott Eastwood, Logan Lerman, Brooklyn star Emory Cohen and Everybody Wants Some actor Blake Jenner among the names making the cut.
Note the “among the names” qualifier, which means there’s an outside chance it’s none of those, but in the spirit of the project, why not fire first, question later? It’s good to see Teller apparently wasn’t tarnished by his unpopular depiction of Reed Richards; his work in Whiplash and The Spectacular Now indicates he’s better than that normally. Elgort’s cockiness in the face of cancer in The Fault in Our Stars makes him a particularly solid pick in my book, and the fact that Dave Franco is currently portraying a younger version of The Room‘s Greg Sestero makes his mention particularly hilarious (plus an ego boost for the real “Sestosterone,” I’m guessing).
Supposedly, actors tested have ranged from ages 17 to 34 (Ford’s actual age in 1977), and there’s a possibility of a Han cameo in Rogue One, though that seems like an odd/bad idea, since it focuses on the Rebel Alliance which Han has no part of at that stage.
Regardless of who gets the coveted role, though, I’d like to beg Miller and Lord: if Jabba is involved, can we please get old-school puppet Jabba rather than the CG version? I know it was miserable for the dudes inside him, but the final product remains eerily lifelike.
Who’s your pick for young Han? And don’t say “no-one”—we’re getting him, so weigh in and let everyone know who you’d like. Shoot first in comments, and we promise not to make it look like self-defense later.
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Image Credit: Fox/Lucasfilm
