The Han Solo Film Won't Be An Origin Story!

Well it's official: Star Wars: The Force Awakens successfully continued the franchise. The minds over at Disney have created a box office sensation that, in 20 days, grossed over $758 million dollars, earning the title of highest-grossing film of all time in North America.

With the incredible success that The Force Awakens has had, we are starting to hear more about the remaining films in the trilogy as well as the separate anthology movies: Rogue One, the Han Solo film & an Untitled third film (rumored to be Boba Fett).

I'm extremely excited about each one, but what I'd like to look at today is the stand alone Han Solo film. There have been quite a few rumors circulating about the movie, specifically whether Harrison Ford would be in any way attached to the movie. As we draw closer to the anticipated May 2018 release, we're bound to get more details, but recently Lawrence Kasden filled us in on a very basic premise of what we could be seeing in the Han Solo film, most importantly that it would not be an origin story. Here's what he had to say to Indiewire:

It will not be here's where he was born and this is how he was raised. I think what it will be is, what was he like 10 years earlier, maybe a little earlier, you'll get a glimpse. But Korosawa once said the heroes are the ones that are still changing and the villains are locked and petrified into what they are are. And Harrison embodies in 'Force Awakens' someone who is still not settled on who he is, and it's probably been that way for almost all of Han's life."

So it looks like the studio is steering towards the beginning of the 'scoundrel' age of Han Solo. Possibly reaching into the canon of his character as he was just beginning his career of smuggling after the Clone Wars and the waning years of the Galactic Republic. There is quite a few canonical stories that could be turned into film:

• Freeing Chewbacca from imprisonment
• Meeting Lando Calrissian and winning the Millennium Falcon
• Getting revenge against the crime lord on Stenness (and the fraudulent marriage in order to steal from the crime lord)
• The beginning of his employment for Jabba the Hutt & his time in Mos Eisley
• Selections from The Han Solo Trilogy sci-fi novels.

Any of those stories would be fantastic to see on screen, and we may potentially see a collection of these tales merged together to become the Han Solo film. Perhaps we'll see something else entirely: we're still guessing about that part, but what we do know is that they're planning on having the movie revolve around a late-teens/early-twenties Han Solo. So that pretty much nulls any chance of Harrison Ford playing the primary character, and the question becomes who could possibly fill the shoes of our beloved scruffy nerf-herder?

Disney and Lucasfilm has been rumored to have tested 2,500 actors for the role of young Han Solo for this prequel. All these actors range from 16 to nearly 30 so there's obviously nothing that the studio is looking at, but here are a few actors who should be on the Solo shortlist.

Nick Robinson

Nick hit the big screen with a roar as he was one of the main characters in Jurassic World. Nick is a bit of an unknown as he's really only started growing his acting chops, but after films like Jurassic World and The Kings of Summer, he's definitely shown that he's capable of bringing to life a younger Han Solo.

Scott Eastwood

When you're the child of iconic director/actor Clint Eastwood, you've got to imagine that a certain pedigree goes with it. Scott definitely has earned the right to carry his father's name with performances in: Flags of Our Fathers, Invictus, Fury, The Longest Ride, and the highly anticipated, Suicide Squad. He's got the charm and the swagger needed to fill the scoundrel vibe.

Dylan O'Brien

Probably my favorite choice, because lets face it - he's an incredible actor with a bright future ahead of him. He was an actor that many pegged as a rising star due to his flexibility and his demeanor. Dylan is most widely known for his work on MTV's Teen Wolf, The Maze Runner franchise and The Internship. All three of these roles brought out the aspects that we love about Han Solo: his friendship, his leadership and his comedic presence.

Taron Egerton

Egerton is on the fast track it seems, quickly rising from unknown to soon-to-be household name after holding his own in Kingsman: The Secret Service with actors such as Colin Firth, Michael Caine, Mark Strong and Samuel L. Jackson. His performance as the cocky, fast-talking, physical and deeply emotional Eggsy truly seemed like an homage to what we would expect a young Han Solo to embody.

Anthony Ingruber

Anthony is more of an unknown then the previous actors as he had basically only minor roles in a few tv movies and series before finding a role in The Age of Adaline. If you can't see the physical similarity between the two then you're in a small minority, but check out his performance in The Age of Adaline where he portrays William Jones (who just so happened to be a young version of same character as, you guessed it, Harrison Ford).

[Sources : Hollywood Reporter : Indiewire : Comicbookmovie : Cinemablend : CNN ]