While much of the focus of ‘Star Wars’ publicity is currently on the anthology film ‘Rogue One‘ (due for release in December) and to a lesser extent on next year’s ‘Episode VIII’, pre-production is well underway on 2018’s second anthology film.
The film, directed by ’21 Jump Street’ and ‘The Lego Movie’ auteurs Phil Lord and Chris Miller, is set to focus on the adventures of a young Han Solo. Little else has been publicly revealed about the movie, save that Alden Ehrenreich has been tapped to step into Harrison Ford’s shoes and that the film will apparently also feature a young Lando Calrissian. It was reported in August that Lucasfilm was seeking minority actresses for the film’s leading lady, and now it seems they’ve narrowed it down to three potential choices. According to Variety, the shortlist is consists of ‘Creed’ star Tessa Thompson, Naomi Scott (currently at work on next year’s ‘Power Rangers‘), and Zoe Kravitz of ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’.
Though the identity of the lead female character is currently unknown, these casting rumors have led many to suspect that it may be Sana Starros. As detailed following her introduction in Marvel’s ongoing ‘Star Wars’ comic, Sana claimed to have married Han several years prior as part of a heist, though Han himself insists that the marriage was never official. If this is the case, it wouldn’t be the first time that a Disney-era ‘Star Wars’ film has incorporated a character from outside the films. In fact, this year’s ‘Rogue One’ features Forest Whitaker as Saw Gerrera, a character previously played by Andrew Kishino in a storyline on ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’.
The Han Solo anthology film is currently scheduled for release on May 25, 2018, exactly forty-one years after the release of the original film. Until then, you can get your ‘Star War’ fix with the release of ‘Rogue One’, the first anthology film on December 16, 2016 and ‘Episode VIII’ on December 15, 2017.