- We're young, dumb and full of Han on today's Nerdist News.
That is a ridiculous intro.
(upbeat electronic music)
Goddamn kids and their social media.
It, like they, cannot go five minutes
without posting a picture of themselves on the internet.
Like, have you heard of this Han Solo kid?
Just today, he posted a pic of himself
and all of his friends to the hot, new social media site,
StarWars.com and the entire internet is going crazy over it.
Whatever happened to posting your new Star New pics
in magazines like Star Wars Insider and Force Illustrated.
But whatever your feelings are
on digital Star Wars fan media
versus print Star Wars fan media,
the fact remains that the first full cast shot
of the young Han Solo movie has arrived.
It comes to us from the film's set
on England's Pinewood Studios and was posted to celebrate
that cameras have officially started rolling
on the brand new Star Wars standalone adventure.
Now, this is definitely more of a casual shot for the fans
featuring the cast out of costume,
unless hoodies, denim and plaid are the hot new looks
in the Star Wars universe, but it's still pretty cool
to see the cast almost assembled.
There is one notable exception missing
from the shot, but more on that later,
plus there are a few interesting details
to pull from the image, starting with that hair.
Star Alden Ehrenreich is finally sporting that Solo style,
a swept back part very similar to the one
Harrison Ford rocks in the original trilogy.
You could argue that it's just a tad less scruffy
than his look in the cantina, but we figured
that just means the plot of this movie will involve
Han learning to live without product.
Either that or Chewbacca just keeps using up
all the hair gel once he joins the crew of the Falcon,
because our favorite Wookiee is in the shot too,
and he's gotta be doing something with that hair.
He's got that back do with the lighter highlights
we haven't seen for a while.
Now, it's clear from even these little details
that directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller
are really going after that New Hope aesthetic
and while it's still way too early
to make a judgment call, from here,
we're going to say they could possibly be nailing it.
After all, Ehrenreich's hair would look completely
out of place on anybody not from the 1970s,
although someone might want to talk to him
about his outerwear choices
because that's Indy's jacket, dude.
You're getting your Harrison Fords all mixed up.
Now, moving all the way to the right,
we've got the only other character
we know is 100% confirmed, Atlanta star Donald Glover
will be throwing on Billy Dee Williams's iconic cape
to take over the role of Lando Calrissian.
Now, it was always assumed that part of the solo Solo story
would detail how he first acquired the keys to the Falcon,
which would obviously involve an encounter
with the Cloud City card shark, but until Glover was cast,
there was always a possibility that this would
just be a quick cameo from a beloved character.
Now, with such a high profile star in the role,
it seems safe to assume that Lando will be playing
a pretty big part in the proceedings.
Now, we have two other big names on hand,
Emilia Clarke and Woody Harrelson,
but their roles are still slightly up in the air.
During an interview at the Sundance Film Festival,
Harrelson claimed that he was playing Garris Shrike.
Shrike is a pretty big character
in the Star Wars expanded universe,
the man who teaches Han how to fly
and inducts him into the world of smuggling.
This definitely lines up with the info we've heard
that Harrelson will be playing a mentor figure to Han,
but until the studio confirms it, we'll hold out on saying
that he's definitely playing Shrike.
As for Clarke, our money is on the Game of Thrones star
taking on a brand new role, most likely the film's villain,
but if she is playing an already existing character,
there are a few options.
Some are speculating that she may be Doctor Aphra,
an archaeologist who eventually becomes
Darth Vader's right hand woman.
Now, the bad doc has been popping up a lot recently
in canon comics and games, so we could see Lucasfilm
wanting to promote her to the big screen,
but her villainy is a little too tied
to Papa Vader's to really work on her own,
so the other, in our opinion, more likely option is
Tolvan, a captain in the Galactic Empire
also appearing in a lot of current comics.
Her overly authoritarian ways seem
like the perfect counterpoint to Han's roguish charms,
but as we said before, this is all still super speculate-y,
so don't forget your grains of salt with this one.
Now, the only big cast member missing from the shot is
Thandie Newton, also taking on a currently unknown role.
Her absence from the shot raises some questions.
Is her role just not as big,
so she doesn't need to be on set yet?
Or maybe she's still trying to escape
from the Delos Corporation?
Whatever the answer is, we still really have
no idea who she might be playing.
One possibility is Sana Starros,
Han's pretend wife from the comics,
but it seems like that would be a pretty substantial role,
which once again forces us to ask,
why wouldn't she be there?
But what do you guys think?
Who do you think Thandie or Woody or Emilia
will be playing when young Han Solo hits theaters next year?
Let's discuss.
(upbeat electronic music)