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‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’: Five Things You Didn’t Know About The Upcoming Film

By Bernadette Giacomazzo
Published on: 05:41 PST, Apr 30, 2018

With the upcoming theatrical release of Solo: A Star Wars Story, fans are excited about the prospect of learning more about the space pirate made infamous by Harrison Ford. Touted as both a prequel to the events of Star Wars: A New Hope and a stand-alone film in the Star Wars pantheon, the film will be in American theaters on May 25, 2018.

Here, then, is a list of some of the little known fun facts about the sure-to-be-blockbuster film.

‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ Was Codenamed ‘Red Cup’ During Filming

During the filming process, movies are given a “code name” to prevent both press leaks and crazy fan invasions, and Solo: A Star Wars Story is no different, having been given the code name “Red Cup.” The “red cup” reference, according to Cosmopolitan, was a tip of the hat to the Solo cup company. It was so clever, in fact, that Lucasfilm parlayed the reference into a partnership.

Even Though Harrison Ford Turned Han Solo Into An Icon, The Role Almost Went To…Freddy Krueger?!

When George Lucas was making the original Star Wars film all the way back in 1977, he — like every other director — was going through the casting process. While he had little trouble casting Mark Hamill in the role of Luke Skywalker and the late Carrie Fisher in the role of Princess Leia, he had a little more trouble casting the role of Han Solo. Before he gave the role to Harrison Ford, according to ScreenRant, several other unlikely actors auditioned for the role, including Kurt Russell, Robert Englund (who would go on to play another movie icon, Freddy Krueger), and Sylvester Stallone.

There Are Two Characters In ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ That First Appeared In ‘Star Wars: Legends’ Comics

Before the Star Wars prequels hit theaters, there was a series of books and comics that were released that would, purportedly, let fans know what happened before the events in A New Hope and after the events in Return of the Jedi. While these books and comics are no longer considered “canon” (hence why they’re called Star Wars: Legends), there are a few characters that made it to official canon status, and we’ll meet them in the upcoming Han Solo film. According to PopCultHQ, two of those characters are named Tag Greenley and Bink Otauna, who were originally created by Kevin Rubio.

Chewbacca Is Old. Like, Really, Really Old.

According to Perez Hilton, we already know that Chewbacca is second only to Yoda in age but until Solo: A Star Wars Story, we didn’t really know Chewbacca’s precise age. In the last teaser trailer for the film, Chewbacca reveals that he’s 190 years old. (That means that, by the time the events of The Last Jedi play out, he’s nearly 300!)

In ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story,’ We’re Going To See How Han Won The Millennium Falcon And Met Chewbacca

Although, according to Popular Mechanics, the backstory between Han and Chewie isn’t really a happy one.

Solo: A Star Wars Story will be in theaters on May 25, 2018.

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