The makeup of the Star Wars franchise has been altered so drastically over the last couple of years that it seems hard to believe that Solo only hit theaters two summers ago, with the movie’s disappointing performance causing it to end up as the lowest-grossing live-action entry in the franchise’s history.
Since then, as well as Solo’s failure ending the Anthology experiment, The Rise of Skywalker arrived to split the fanbase right down the middle, The Clone Wars was revived and then ended on Disney Plus, The Mandalorian debuted to widespread acclaim, Ewan McGregor signed on to return as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss became the latest filmmakers to join Star Wars before quickly jumping ship, Marvel Cinematic Universe alumni Kevin Feige and Taika Waititi both stepped in to develop movies and people still haven’t stopped calling for the head of Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy.
Even though a lot of fans never bothered turning up to catch Solo when it was playing in cinemas, there’s still been a vocal minority campaigning for a sequel, whether it ends up happening on the big screen or as a Disney Plus limited series. Based on the box office numbers, it doesn’t seem like it would be a worthwhile investment for the studio seeing as Solo’s famously troubled shoot sent costs spiralling towards the $300 million mark, but then again, Justice League never turned a profit either and we’re still getting the Snyder Cut next year.
In a recent interview, leading man Alden Ehrenreich admitted that he’d be open to the idea of returning for a follow-up, but also made it clear that if there’s anything in the works, he hasn’t heard about it yet.
“It depends on what it is. It depends on how it’s done. It depends if it feels innate to the story. No, I don’t know anything about that. I mean, you know, I think our movie was kind of the last of the conventional-era Star Wars movie release time. I’ve heard some stuff, but nothing concrete. It was basically a three-year experience from pre-production to the release of the movie. And I just wanted to be a person, connect with people in my life, spend time and develop as a person outside of those worlds. And then you never know.”
That’s about as non-committal an answer as you can give, and while it seems as though Ehrenreich is in no rush to play the title character again in the future, if the campaign for a Solo sequel continues to gather momentum, the prospect can’t be entirely ruled out given how desperate the studio will be to get fans back on their side after making some pretty divisive creative decisions in recent times.