Now that the full-length trailer for SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY is finally here, excitement levels for the spinoff film are nearing a fever pitch. Some fans have already started breaking the new footage down, studying every frame in the hope of discovering some new detail about the upcoming film. Thankfully, for those of us who're just looking for a quick fix to our curiosity, Entertainment Weekly has revealed a set of new and exclusive images from the film as well as a few details of what we can all expect when Ron Howard's film arrives in theaters.
As you know, SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY tells the tale of a young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich), and how he came to be known as the lying, thieving bad boy of the Star Wars universe. The events of the film will invite audience members to experience a dark criminal underworld, where Han and Chewbacca encounter Lando Calrissian, years before joining the rebellion.
While speaking with EW for their Star Wars cover story, Lawrence Kasdan (who co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and The Force Awakens) laughed alongside his son Jon, who co-wrote the script with him, that SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY is secretly a bromance film that tells the story of how Han met Chewie.
“To me, this is a love story between Han and Chewie,” says Kasdan. “Their relationship has always been my favorite part of the saga, and the fact that only Han understands what Chewie is saying, I find a very funny possibility for comedy. Wookiees have so many positive qualities, but what they don’t do is make it easy for you to get in." Aww, wookies, who hurt you? Don't you know that all anyone really wants is a big ol' hug from those long, furry arms of yours?
As their talk continued, Kasdan mentioned that the style of the movie will be a cross between film noir and Western, with buddy comedy elements throw into the mix just to keep things from getting too serious.
Also on-board for the EW interview was Alden Ehrenreich, who portrays the suave smuggler orignally played by Harrison Ford in the 1977 original trilogy and beyond. “I think the main thing that’s different is that the Han we meet in this film is more of an idealist,” says Ehrenreich. “He has certain dreams that he follows, and we watch how it affects him as those dreams meet new realities — realities that are harder and more challenging than he’d expected.”
Donald Glover, who plays a young Lando Calrissian in the film, revealed that, in one of his scenes, he can be found playing a game of Sabacc with one of his alien friends.
Meanwhile, GAME OF THRONES alum Emilia Clarke, who plays Han's fellow cast-off friend, Qi'ra, told EW that her character "has a couple of guises, but essentially she is just fighting to stay alive. If you’ve got a really glamorous lady in a really sordid environment, you kind of know the glamour is hiding a few rough roads," Clarke warned.
While plot details about the film are scarce, we now know that an aspect of the film will involve Han and Chewie taking part in a heist. Furthermore, the caper will begin during a harrowing sequence aboard a double-sided train known as "the Conveyex." Fun Fact: the Aurebesh text in the photo translates to the word "Hitch Joint."
Woody Harrelson will arrive in the film as a sort-of mentor to Solo, named Tobias Beckett. Word has it that, while teaching Han his best tips and tricks for a successful smuggle, Beckett is hoping to boost his status in the criminal community by pulling off the big score alongside his companions.
”He’s a powerful criminal, but a free agent,” director Ron Howard told EW. “Tobias Beckett really shapes Han more than anybody, as Han comes to believe that in a lawless time, he needs a moral code.”
Next, talk of the Millennium Falcon, and its radically different look, became the group's focus of conversation. Specifically, the ship's new closed-nose design.
“I wonder what that could be?” Ron Howard says as he baits Star Wars fans. “You’ll have to see. The Falcon is a character in the movie, without a doubt. That machine is a defining factor in Han’s future. Every aspect of this movie moves, shifts, and transforms in very interesting and yet plausible ways.” Oh Howard, you tease.
There's also a new droid in the film played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge that goes by the name of L3-37. Said to have a "more idiosyncratic personality than your typical droids," L3-37 is said to be a bit more relatable, and capable of displaying emotions that could be recognized as human.
The last photo included in the set features a band of Mudtroopers on Mimban. Apparently a very big deal among Star Wars novel enthusiasts, Mimban is said to have one of the longest histories in the known galaxy, with many of its denizens being of an unseemly sort. Mimban is a location in the Star Wars galaxy that plays host to a wide variety of swamp and marshlands. Its atmosphere is notoriously plagued by thunderstorms, which renders its sky in a perpetually overcast state.
According to EW, Mimban was the setting of the 1978 novel Splinter of the Mind’s Eye by Allan Dean Foster, which took place two years after the events of the original Star Wars and saw Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia stranded on the muddy planet while Darth Vader searched it for a Force relic known as the Kaiburr crystal.
Now that we've got plenty to chew on, it's time to play the waiting game!
Has the trailer and details surrounding SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY got you more excited about the Star Wars spinoff? are there any other characters you're hoping will show up as a part of the adventure? Let us know in the comments section below, and may the force be with you, always.