Ron Howard’s Solo: A Star Wars Story releases later this week and will introduce Alden Ehrenreich as young Han Solo. As it turns out, though, the origins of everyone’s favorite smuggler were almost revealed in 2005’s Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.
If you’ll recall, the Prequel film brought audiences to the planet Kashyyyk, the home world of the Wookiees, Chewbacca’s species. There, Jedi Master Yoda leads an attack against the Confederacy of Independent Systems and its droid army.
In George Lucas’ initial drafts of the movie, Kashyyyk is also the place where Yoda meets a 10-year-old orphan: Han Solo. The boy shows Yoda a droid he found, which was communicating with allies on the planet Utapau. This helps the Jedi finally track down the villainous General Grievous. Unfortunately, this interaction never came to be, and Han’s cameo instead went to his furry co-pilot.
One can only imagine how different Star Wars would be if young Han had appeared in the Prequel Trilogy, though. It would call into question his lack of belief in the Force discussed in Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, and it would lead people to wonder exactly when Chewbacca comes into play. The cameo wouldn’t have had that big of an impact on the movie itself, but it definitely would have been interesting to see.
Contrary to popular belief, Ron Howard’s upcoming flick is not its titular character’s origin story. Lucasfilm does love to recycle unused content from George Lucas’ movies, but it’s chosen to tell an original tale this time around. Instead of growing up on Kashyyyk, for instance, Han does so on Corellia. He teams up with and befriends a girl named Qi’ra as well, and does not meet the Wookiee Chewbacca until he reaches adulthood.
As Solo: A Star Wars Story inches closer to release, anticipation to learn the true story of young Han reaches its zenith. Some people may wish he’d appeared in Revenge of the Sith like George Lucas first planned, but such a cameo would likely mean that a film like Howard’s couldn’t exist. So in the end, it all worked out for the best, wouldn’t you say?
