What To Expect In The Han Solo Movie

Though most Star Wars fans are understandably focusing their attention on the upcoming eighth chapter in the Skywalker saga, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the franchise also has another spinoff winding its way through development, and we're already wondering what we can expect to see in that project.

We're talking, of course, about the untitled "young Han Solo" standalone movie. Lucasfilm has been tightlipped on the details, though we know a few things; for starters, it'll be co-directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, Alden Ehrenreich will play young Han Solo, Donald Glover portrays young Lando Calrissian, and Woody Harrelson will play Solo's mentor. Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) has also joined the project, though we don't know who she's playing at this point. Chewbacca will also be there, of course.

Aside from that, we don't know much else, so we put together a breakdown of some of the characters that could pop up in this prequel, mining the new and old canon for some friendly (and not so friendly) faces that could potentially pop up. Here's what you can safely expect to see in the Han Solo movie.

Jabba was a lingering big bad throughout much of the original Star Wars trilogy, causing all types of chaos for Luke, Leia and Han. The reason he was such a presence? His deep history with Han, going back to old debts that would line up perfectly with the timeline of the Han Solo prequel film. The Han prequel will need an antagonist to push the narrative forward, and you could do far worse than reviving an ambitious Jabba looking to build up his criminal empire.

If there's anything consistent across this entire franchise, from prequels to sequels and everything in between, it's R2-D2 and C-3PO. They're the only element that has persisted throughout the entire series—and even popped up in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story for a brief cameo peek. Which makes sense, considering George Lucas originally intended for R2-D2 to tell the entire saga to the Keeper of the Whills at some point in the future. It might be tough to fit these two droids into Han's prequel story (since he doesn't meet them until the original trilogy), but it'll still be disappointing if they don't.

The Han Solo film will take place a few years before the events of Rogue One, which would mean Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) is out there during the years of Han Solo's origin story gathering intel and getting into the darker corners of the universe to battle the Empire. The cast of Rogue One was signed on for multiple films (before they decided on the ending that wiped them all out, of course), so the deals should all be in place for Cassian to show up. If he does, we wouldn't expect a large role (since the film doesn't need too many handsome young rogues running around), but they probably ran in a few of the same shady circles, right?

This one seems to be relatively probable, as far as guesswork is concerned. Lucasfilm is fired up to use Boba Fett in its prequel spinoff projects (with a full-fledged Fett film stalled in development), so it stands to reason they could start planting some seeds here. It's been well-established that Han spent his years before the origin trilogy as a scoundrel—so it's not crazy to think someone might've hired a bounty hunter to track him down at some point in the past. The studio could gauge interest in seeing a young Boba Fett before putting the movie into active development.

Much like Luna's Cassian, Felicity Jones is also signed to a multi-film deal to play Jyn Erso again. It'd be a bit on the nose and silly to use Jyn as a potential love interest for Han or Lando (it's supposed to be a big galaxy out there, right?), but we know Jyn runs in criminal crowds, much like Han. The first time we meet her as an adult, she's been arrested by the Empire—so it stands to reason her path could potentially cross with Han's at some point. There has to be a Venn diagram out there where that works out.

Greedo is almost certainly best known for his role in the famous "Han shot first" controversy, and though his role in the original trilogy is extremely small, there's obviously been a good bit of bad blood between these two characters in the past. If they're looking to add a mid-tier antagonist to the fold, Greedo would be an excellent choice. It'd be a slick nod to fans, and could be a fun way to build in some context for why these two are at such odds in the original trilogy.

This is one of the few things we can guarantee will be in the Han Solo spinoff. Disney locked down up-and-comer Donald Glover (Community, Atlanta) to take on the role of young Lando. When we meet him in the original trilogy, he already has a long history with Han—we know Han won his ship the Millennium Falcon from Lando at some point in the past, and with these two teaming up a few years before Cloud City, it stands to reason that could be part of the story.

We still don't know who Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) is playing in the Han Solo prequel, but it's almost certainly the female lead. One possible guess? The roguish lady Sana Starros, introduced in Marvel's new Star Wars comic run. She has a romantic history with Han, and claims to have been his first wife from the years before the original trilogy. Lucasfilm has shown a proclivity to connect characters across the new canon (with some connections from Star Wars: Rebels popping up in Rogue One). Disney is playing the long game here, and they certainly could bring over a comics character to the big screen—especially one as significant as Han's former love interest.

Woody Harrelson has officially joined the film to play Han Solo's mentor, though the studio hasn't announced which character he'll be playing. The best guess from the Expanded Universe canon would be Garris Shrike, a character who served a similar role in those stories—and one Harrelson may have (but probably didn't) already confirm he's playing. We don't know how much Harrelson's character will show up in the film, but he'll definitely be providing some guidance (be it positive or negative) to young Han.

These two fan favorites from Rogue One were defenders of an ancient Jedi temple, so there's no doubt they had a long and interesting history before joining up with Jyn's suicide mission. They certainly got around the galaxy before settling down on Jedha, and it's possible Han could cross paths with them. The Rogue One creative team teased there's a whole lot more to their stories than we saw in the movie. Could Han Solo's saga peel off a few layers?