You’ve heard of it, haven’t you? The Kessel Run? Word is Han Solo can zip along that elusive hyperspace route in only 12 parsecs – 3.26 light-years, give or take – and if the folks at Making Star Wars are to be believed, Kessel, that far-flung planet first mentioned during Star Wars: A New Hope all those years ago, will crop up in Ron Howard’s 2018 anthology pic.
First spotted by Reddit, Lucasfilm’s origin story, one which seemingly takes place over a seven-year time period, came up in conversation during episode 195 of Now This Is Podcasting. Amid talk of speeders and that aforementioned Kessel Run, MSW claimed that Han Solo will introduce viewers to two classic Star Wars planets: Corellia and Kessel.
Chalk this up as conjecture, but it’s believed the Ron Howard-directed pic unfolds across “three different eras over a seven-year period,” during which time we’ll check in on Alden Ehrenreich’s smuggler between the ages of 18 and 24. Not only that, but MSW’s report also lends credence to the Millennium Falcon taking on a slightly different appearance come 2018.
This is a prequel movie, after all, and the Falcon made its trade as a hulking cargo ship, during which time it was piloted by the young Lando Calrissian. It’s unclear if Donald Glover’s smooth-talking ally is actually the vessel’s first owner, but we expect more answers to emerge sooner rather than later – ditto for Woody Harrelson’s Beckett and Emilia Clarke’s Kira, who are two characters deemed fairly instrumental in Solo’s origin story.
The so-far untitled Han Solo anthology pic has a release date of May 25th, 2018. Prior to the appointment of J.J. Abrams, Star Wars: Episode IX was slated for a similar pre-summer corridor, but has since relocated to December 20th, 2019 where it’ll give Wonder Woman 2 a run for its money.
