Imagine making your debut in the highly anticipated reboot of one of the most famous film franchises of all time – with all the pomp and circumstance that entails – and having that debut inextricably linked with the murder of one of pop culture’s most legendary characters. This is the situation that Adam Driver faced as he attended the premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Now that he’s busy promoting Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the actor has been recounting that experience with GQ Magazine, where he said the following:
“When I watched the premiere, I felt sick to my stomach… Immediately, I thought I was going to puke. I was holding my wife’s hand, and she’s like, ‘You’re really cold. Are you OK?’ Because I just knew what was coming – I kill Harrison Ford – and I didn’t know how this audience of 2,000 people was going to respond to it, you know?”
Bearing in mind the fact that there had been no hint of the demise of Han Solo during the lengthy marketing campaign for The Force Awakens (aside from Harrison Ford’s repeated comments for years before that he was happy for the character to be written out), it certainly was a shock to audiences around the world when Kylo Ren (Driver) sent his dad, Han Solo (Ford) plummeting into the darkness below a non-descript metal walkway. Indeed, the appearance of Han Solo and Chewbacca on the Millennium Falcon (“Chewie, we’re home!”) in one of the trailers for that film was one of the greatest pop culture moments of 2015.
So, after all that fanfare and excitement, the walk into the premiere of The Force Awakens must surely have felt like an ominous trudge toward infamy for actor Adam Driver. Now, having killed Han Solo in that movie, all bets are off with regard to the lengths to which this character will go in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. If even Han can meet his end at the wielding of his son’s lightsaber, then surely nobody’s safe.
