Without a doubt, one of the biggest draws of Solo: A Star Wars Story is seeing the beloved duo at the center of the film.
We are, of course, referring to Han and Chewbacca, otherwise known as the galaxy’s greatest double act. But considering the Ron Howard-directed spinoff takes place long before A New Hope – and before Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, too – Solo is all set to deep dive into the early days of Han and Chewie’s friendship, as they begin to mosey their way through the galaxy’s criminal underworld.
That means we’ll be running into a number of other familiar characters as well, like Lando Calrissian, for one, while rumors have pointed to everyone from Boba Fett to Jabba the Hutt appearing, too. And while that all remains unconfirmed at the moment, the latest report suggests that none other than R2-D2 might have a cameo in Solo: A Star Wars Story as well.
We’d advise taking this with a grain of salt, as usual, but while speaking on Kevin Smith’s Smodcast recently, writer Brad Meltzer discussed a visit he took to the set of the upcoming Anthology pic. While there, his children apparently got the chance to meet both Chewie and R2-D2, with Meltzer saying:
“We went in and I took my kids, and that was a big thing for me, is I got to take my kids, and if we reveal anything we gotta, like, give [Disney] one of the kids, but I’ve got three, so we’ve got a spare, but we go there and they do the thing, ‘You wanna see R2-D2? You wanna see Chewie? Yes, of course we wanna do that.”
Though that would seem to confirm the droid’s presence in the film, what he says next does throw things into question a bit.
“And then we go into the armory, this room that’s basically about as big as your office here, a little bit bigger, that has every Stormtrooper gun that you can imagine that they have. And I’m like, ‘You guys are so fun at TSA,”‘ the writer continued. “But then they say to my youngest, ‘What’s your favorite lightsaber?’ And so my kid, because he’s 9 years old, is like, ‘Kylo Ren.’ He wants Kylo Ren. So they pull out Kylo Ren’s lightsaber and then the go to my older son, ‘What do you want?’ and he says, ‘Luke Skywalker,’ and they pull out Luke’s.”
Obviously, Kylo Ren isn’t going to be in Solo given that he wasn’t even born yet when the film takes place. So, it’s possible that for some reason, Lucasfilm just has a bunch of really awesome props lying around on set. Then again, seeing as both R2-D2 and C-3PO were in the last Anthology film, we wouldn’t rule out an appearance for the loveable droid just yet.
Speaking of which, much like Rogue One before it, Solo is a decidedly old-school addition to Disney’s burgeoning Star Wars franchise, so it should come as no surprise that the vast majority of the spinoff’s story takes place at a time when the Galactic Empire is just beginning to reach the height of its powers. It’s also largely devoid of Jedi (at least so far as we can tell), opening up the field for a deep dive into the galaxy’s criminal underworld.
Starring Alden Ehrenreich as the titular smuggler, also on board for the upcoming spinoff are Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Joonas Suotamo and Paul Bettany as a seedy gangster known as Dryden Vos, whose villainy is matched only by those nasty facial scars.
Cometh the hour, cometh the Han. Look for Solo: A Star Wars Story to whisk viewers off on an intergalactic journey from May 25th.
