It's Official: Chewbacca Will Be In That Young Han Solo Movie

With fans scouring every nook and cranny for spoilers, Disney has played pretty much everything close to the vest when it comes to the studio's new Star Wars films. But now we know one more fan favorite will be back in the saddle for Han Solo's solo story.

Alden Ehrenreich, who has signed on to play young Han Solo in the untitled prequel, revealed (via Variety) that Han's co-pilot and partner Chewbacca will also be in the new film. It's not much of a shock, but it still offers up a few precious details about the timeframe of the story. Ehrenreich told the trade he "can say" that Chewbacca is in the film, though he said he didn't believe it was a "huge spoiler" to confirm the character. But hey, when it comes to Star Wars, even the most innocuous pieces of intel can be important.

So what kind of Chewbacca will we see? He'll obviously be a bit younger, much like Ehrenreich's Solo, so can we expect him to be shorter? Probably not. The character of Chewbacca was already 200 years old in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, and Ehrenreich said he wouldn't expect the character to experience much of a growth spurt from he age of around 190 to 200, so he's "probably about the same height." He did not reveal who will be playing the character, though it stands to reason veteran Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew could return. He last played Chewie in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and was also under the suit throughout the entire original trilogy.

Little is known about the plot, though it was announced awhile back that Donald Glover (Atlanta, Community) will be playing a young version of Lando Calrissian, portrayed by Billy Dee Williams in the original trilogy. So we can now confirm the untitled prequel will feature both a young Lando and young Chewie in the supporting cast. Han won his famous ship the Millennium Falcon from Lando in the events before A New Hope, so it's possible the prequel could touch on how that happened.

The untitled Han Solo film is being directed by Christopher Miller and Phil Lord (21 Jump Street, The LEGO Movie), from a script penned by Lawrence Kasdan (Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi) and his son Jon Kasdan (The Land of Women, Freaks and Geeks).

The Han Solo anthology opens May 25, 2018.