Yesterday marked the end of Star Wars Celebration Europe, with the weekend closingoout on a huge surprise surprise. Alden Ehrenreich was introduced to fans for the first time as Han Solo, the new star of the untitled Han Solo Star Wars Story at the Future Filmmaker Panel. The panel featured Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy (Producer) and Kiri Hart (Senior Vice President of Development), who were joined by director Rian Johnson (Star Wars: Episode VIII) and directing duo Chris Miller and Phil Lord (the untitled Han Solo Star Wars story). Hosted by Lucasfilm Story Group’s Pablo Hidalgo, the filmmakers were joined by surprise guests John Boyega (Finn), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) and Carrie Fisher (General Leia Organa) from Star Wars: Episode VIII.
Han Solo directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller revealed they just moved to London two days ago to work on the movie, but we don’t know any other cast members yet aside from Alden Ehrenreich. The directors revealed that it’s been a “dream come true” to work with writer Lawrence Kasdan. Here’s what they had to say about this highly-anticipated project.
“This is a guy who, on the playground, everyone was fighting who gets to play Han Solo. He’s a maverick, he’s a scoundrel, he’s clever but he’s not smart. He positions himself as this tough guy, but in the end he does the right thing.”
Rian Johnson even told young Alden Ehrenreich that he will be “fine as Han Solo”, since he has that “charm stuff down.” The actor revealed that he auditioned for roughly six months, and part of the process involved going on the Millennium Falcon. Here’s what he had to say about this audition at the Future Filmmaker’s panel.
“I auditioned for about 6 months. The coolest part of that audition process was, I went on the Falcon…It’s pretty unbelievable. I’m just very, very excited. I’ve never screen tested with a Wookiee. It was amazing. There’s something about it that felt so exciting. It was more exciting than it was nerve-wracking.”
This panel was one of very few at Star Wars Celebration that wasn’t streamed live to fans all around the world, but you can still relive the action with a slew of videos and photos. Next year, Star Wars Celebration will be held in Orlando, but we’ll have to wait and see what is unveiled a year from now. In the meantime, take a look at these new videos and photos from this year’s Future Filmmaker’s Panel at Star Wars Celebration.