The twittersphere just blew up this afternoon when news came out about the planned Star Wars spin-off movies. Part of that might be because there were two movies rumored to be coming. The first would focus on a young Han Solo in an origin story. Meanwhile the second film is rumored to focus on Boba Fett in a bounty hunting adventure.
One thing to consider before anyone gets too excited, or angry depending on your personal take, is that Lucasfilm and Disney have neither confirmed there would be spin-off movies nor that they would focus on Han and Fett. However, Entertainment Weekly is reporting that sources close to both of these rumored films have confirmed these spin-off movies are in fact the direction Lucasfilm will be going. Now I’m sure you all are wanting to hear a bit more about what these movies will deal with, so here we go.
There are two different time frames being rumored for the Boba Fett movie. It will take place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back or between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. I don’t know about you all, but if they do a Fett story set after ESB I would love to see the events from the book Shadows of the Empire. For those that aren’t familiar with that book, it deals with the actions Luke and his friends take to track down Boba Fett and rescue Han Solo and it ends right before RoTJ. There were comic books and video games that tied in with the book. I could easily see Lucasfilm telling a story that crosses over with elements of Shadows of the Empire as Fett evades Luke and his friends to deliver the carbonite frozen Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt.
One interesting fact here is that Director Joe Johnston, who has directed films like Captain America and The Rocketeer, originally designed Boba Fett’s costume. In an interview with Screenrant he said that he would be on board with making a Boba Fett movie. So call if wishful thinking but I would like to see Johnston direct this Boba Fett spin-off.
The other movie, featuring Han Solo, is rumored to take place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. This is the same time period that the often talked about Star Wars TV series was supposed to take place. Part of me wonders if Lucasfilm might be looking at a TV series continuation if the Han Solo movie takes off. The really interesting thing here, is who will they bring on board to play Han. I don’t care how young Harrison Ford still looks there is no way he can look like a young Han again without a lot of CGI help. Han is about 35 when ANH takes place. If we assume that movie takes place roughly 18 years after ROTS then we are looking at a movie where Han could be anywhere between 17 to 35 years old.
If they want to adapt some of the EU for this movie A.C. Crispin wrote the fantastic series of books many fans refer to as The Han Solo Trilogy. This trilogy tells Han’s backstory starting out out the Imperial Academy as a new recruit and ending right before ANH kicks off. Throughout the novels you start to see just how Han had some ties to the birth of the Rebellion, how he and Lando really because friends, and just why Han doesn’t trust the Rebellion. This series was fantastic and it would be awesome to see these books adapted to the big screen.
Another thing to consider is that highly acclaimed Star Wars author Timothy Zahn has also written a new book called Scoundrels. I haven’t read it yet but its supposed to take place between ANH and ESB and focuses on Han setting up an Ocean’s 11-esque heist to steal from a gangster. I could see this making an interesting spin-off as well. Of course Lucasfilm could decide to do something brand new for both the spin-off movies and ignore the books from the Expanded Universe. At this point the plot of these movies is anyone’s guess.
One thing that I hadn’t considered at first is that given the rumored timelines of these movies you could see an appearance from other characters like Darth Vader. Now, I don’t know that they could get James Earl Jones to reprise his role as the voice of Vader but there are still options. If anyone is familiar with the web series Chad Vader: Dayshift Manager, and its four season run, they might have realized that Chad sound’s eerily familiar to his cousin Darth. That’s a fact that Lucasfilm has also picked up on as Matt Sloan, the series creator and voice of Chad, has been providing the voice of Darth Vader in recent games such as The Force Unleashed Series and even in Vader’s Soul Caliber IV appearance. Lucasfilm can voice Vader without James Earl Jones if they have to.
At first I was kind of bothered by this news, but after thinking about it I’m kind of looking forward to these movies, especially the Han Solo one. I really hope that Lucasfilm gives serious consideration to adapting some of the books written in the Expanded Universe. I think they could work as great movies. I’m pretty excited now, but what are you all thinking? Hit up the comments down below and let me know!
