The second Star Wars anthology movie may have found its young Han Solo in Alden Ehrenreich.
It looks like the search for young Han Solo is almost over. Over the last few months Disney has evidently been considering every actor in Hollywood for the role, but recently the field got narrowed down to Taron Egerton, Jack Reynor, Blake Jenner and Jack O’Connor.
And now, according to Deadline, the 26-year-old Alden Ehrenreich has emerged as the frontrunner.
Deadline has it from “sources with knowledge of the casting process” that Ehrenreich’s screen tests were extraordinarily impressive.
Ehrenreich has more than a passing resemblance to a young Harrison Ford, and has shown with Hail Caesar! that he’s an impressive actor.
Being eight years younger than Harrison Ford was in A New Hope (six by the time the movie comes out) also tells us a little more about when this takes place, chronologically. We’ll meet a Han Solo who hasn’t yet met the Skywalkers or joined the Rebellion, in what might be the start of the prime of his smuggling days.
Perhaps it even takes place around the same time as Rogue One — rumor has it that the actor who lands the young Han Solo role could also cameo in that movie, although the longer the wait, the more unlikely that is; the movie has already been filmed and is in post-production, and it might soon be too late for reshoots.
There is also talk that Boba Fett, previously rumored for his own spinoff movie, might have a significant role in the Han Solo movie. Fett, too, is rumored to appear in Rogue One. The suspense is killing us!
The Han Solo anthology film is set for a 2018 release, directed by The Lego Movie‘s Phil Lord and Chris Miller.