Lucasfilm
Titles for Star Wars movies should be like buses; you wait ages for one and then they come together in a clump. Last week we learned that Episode VIII – which arrives in December – will be called Star Wars: The Last Jedic. That movie will be followed in 2018 by a story about Han Solo’s origins, and thanks to Chris Miller’s Twitter feed, we have a name:
Han
First
Shot pic.twitter.com/KReR6rgKFT— Chris Miller (@chrizmillr) January 30, 2017
Miller is co-directing the film with Phil Lord; the duo was previously responsible for the (excellent) Lego Movie. And as we found out last August, Aidan Ehrenreich is expected to star as Han Solo, possibly in more than one movie. Star Wars: Red Cup might be a bit of an inside joke; after all, the drinking vessel of the same name was made by a company called Solo. And it could just be a working title for now, the way Return of the Jedi was filmed under the name Blue harvest. But again, that was done to confuse fans hungry for news in the days before the internet, and Miller’s clapperboard still has Star Wars written on it.
Should Miller’s choice of words – Han First Shot – be seen as an undoing of George Lucas’ infamous decision to spend so many childhood years with his Star Wars special edition? After all, that change in dynamics between Greedo and Han Solo fundamentally changed the nature of the galaxy’s favorite, scruffy-looking nerf shepherd. rogue one, the first Star Wars spin-off film coming after Disney sets a darker, more mature tone than the main films, something Solo’s backstory would probably need.