Details from the forthcoming Star Wars standalone film, Young Han Solo, have been slow to trickle out the last few months, leaving us craving any and all information we can learn about it. That’s exactly why Lucasfilm knew the best way to promote a new charitable initiative was to give us a sneak peek at an all new alien from the set.
In a promotional video for Omaze‘s latest “Force for Change” collaboration with Star Wars (that we first came across at Entertainment Weekly), Warwick Davis himself gave us a behind-the-scenes look from the movie. His presence there alone is actually kind of a spoiler, but not much else he could show us–like a parking lot or vending machines–revealed anything useful.
That was until the film’s co-directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller got involved, and we got a quick look at a new alien (even if the two directors disagreed over letting that happen).
The alien, wearing a coat that looks to us like something a pilot might wear, managed to blink about 100 times in only two very brief appearances. How did he do that? Well it’s easy when you have six eyes.
Best we can tell this particular species has never been seen before, though it is reminiscent of a Gran, and has many eyes like a Vuvrian (though you would never confuse those two).
So what can we learn from this? Nothing. Honestly, nothing at all. It’s not like we didn’t know new aliens would be a part of the movie, they always are. (Though it is encouraging to see the continued focus by Lucasfilm for using practical effects with aliens).
But this was a very useful promo in that it has us talking about the latest charitable project with Omaze, where one grand prize winner is going to win a whole boatload of awesome experiences, including staying overnight at Skywalker Ranch, an actual cameo in the Young Han Solo movie, and tickets to the world premiere. Yes, the grand prize winner really gets all three! You can enter here, and the contest runs until May 11, but even if you don’t win you’ll know that your donation will go to the Starlight Childrenâs Foundation and UNICEF.
And look, Lucasfilm knows its audience, and this exact trick worked on us before, when J.J. Abrams, on the set of The Force Awakens, promoted a joint venture with Omaze and an all new alien just happened to walk by him while he was filming it.
While we know the Star Wars community is a loving, inclusive, caring collection of nerds that always helps out its most needy members, we also respond well to morsels of information from upcoming films. So this is what is called a win-win: we saw a new alien to satiate our Star Wars craving, and some great charities get even more of the attention they deserve.
Now if they could just tell us exactly what Warwick Davis is doing on set…
What do you make of this new alien? And which prize from Omaze would you most want to win? Travel to planet Comments Section below to let us know.
Images: Lucasfilm