Solo Screenwriter Offers New Intel On The Millennium Falcon

Just as the USS Enterprise helped define Star Trek, the Millennium Falcon has always been a fixture of Lucasfilm’s ongoing Star Wars series.

But while the Corellian fighter has been limited to the Skywalker Saga – animated series notwithstanding – this year will see the Falcon branch off into uncharted territory, as Ron Howard and his team begin documenting the origins of the galaxy’s most endearing smuggler in Solo: A Star Wars Story.

It’s a journey that will put him on the path toward Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian and the Millennium Falcon, which is a much sleeker, polished space vessel than the one introduced in A New Hope. This fairly radical redesign is something writer Jon Kasdan addressed in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, too, saying:

Where Han gave it a certain shabby coolness and a dinged up quality that reflected where he was at that point in his life, this Falcon reflects its owner very clearly in its shape and aesthetic and his needs, even if those needs be a little more space to entertain.

That quote arrived hand-in-hand with some new Falcon concept art. As you’ll no doubt notice, the ship’s bow is a unified whole, indicating that Solo: A Star Wars Story will detail the moment when the iconic freighter suffers significant (and presumably irreparable) damage to its front-end.

Alden Ehrenreich, meanwhile, told EW that while Lando tends to keep the Millennium Falcon in tip-top shape, sometimes flying around in a hunk of junk can work to your advantage.

It’s safer in the galaxy to fly something that looks like a piece of junk. People underestimate you — especially if you’re up to no good. Kinda like how you’re more likely to get pulled over if you’re driving a Lamborghini.

Finally, Jon Kasdan warned viewers that the Millennium Falcon of Solo isn’t brand new, per se, as it’s “already had a long life” whizzing through the cosmos.

Remember, when the Falcon enters our movie, it’s already had a long life. Decades of existence. And it’s been modified even from its original design. What we tried to do with the whole movie was take things that we take for granted and love and turn them on their ear.

Solo: A Star Wars Story will be with us on May 25th, at which point we’ll be able to conjure up a definitive verdict of Alden Ehrenreich as the young, wet-behind-his-ears smuggler.