Woody Harrelson’s Han Solo Character Is A “Good At Heart” Criminal

The upcoming Han Solo Anthology movie is currently shrouded in secrecy. Though certain things are starting to leak out, like the return of a familiar location, we still don’t know a whole lot of concrete facts about the film. In fact, it hasn’t even been given a proper title yet – which really needs to be rectified soon.

One of the few things that has been officially confirmed, however, is the role that Woody Harrelson will play in the movie. From what we understand, he’ll take on the part of Beckett, the mentor to Alden Ehrenreich’s youthful Han Solo. We haven’t been given much more than that, but in a new interview with The Independent, the Zombieland and Hunger Games star dropped a few new hints about his character’s personality.

Though he was understandably tightlipped, his words do give us some meat to chew on. Here’s what he said:

“I am totally psyched to be making a Star Wars film. But the secrecy is on another level. What I can say he’s a good character, he is a mentor to Han and a criminal, but good at heart.”

This is intriguing information, as it seems to go against the fan theory that Beckett is really Garris Shrike, the man who raised Han in the non-canonical Legends universe, formerly known as the Extended Universe. In those novels, Shrike was a hot-headed criminal who beat his young charges, including Solo. Going by Harrelson’s comments, however, Beckett seems like a rough-around-the-edges but ultimately good man. Maybe somewhat like Yondu, Peter Quill’s adoptive dad, from Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies?

The Han Solo spinoff stars Ehrenreich and Harrelson alongside Emilia Clarke, Thandie Newton and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, with Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca and Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian. It’s directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (22 Jump Street, The LEGO Movie) from a script by Jon and Lawrence Kasdan, and will blast into this galaxy on May 25th, 2018.