Woody Harrelson In Early Talks To Play Han Solo's Mentor

Even space smugglers need teachers.

Variety reports that Woody Harrelson is the top choice to play Han Solo's mentor in the upcoming Star Wars spinoff. If he signs on, he'd join a cast that already includes Alden Ehrenreich as a young Solo, Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, and Emilia Clarke as the female lead.

Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The LEGO Movie) are directing the flick set prior to Star Wars: A New Hope, and it's a standalone anthology film away from the Skywalker saga, like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney and Lucasfilm want a big name for the mentor part, and at one point, Christian Bale was reportedly considered.

But it wouldn't be the first time Harrelson has played an older mentor to a young, complicated hero. He played Haymitch Abernathy to Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games. And one of the producers of that series is also producing the Han Solo movie.

Rumor has it the release date could be pushed from May 2018 to that December, but either way, production is set to begin this month. We'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, check out things we want to see in the Han Solo prequel.