J.J. Abrams Was Worried Harrison Ford Couldn't Be Han Solo Again
We've already heard J.J. Abrams talk about how wonderful of an experience it was working with Harrison Ford on Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the joy it brought him to see the actor return to the iconic role of Han Solo. But he didn't always feel that way. He was actually worried that Ford wouldn't be able to pull off the Han Solo that we all know and love anymore. In an interview with the Seattle Times, Abrams explained how he wasn't sure Ford would be able to pull it off until they were on the set and shooting the film:
"What was incredible from my point of view was how apparently easily they flipped back into these roles. I knew for a fact, for example, that Harrison Ford was going to be in this movie, but I couldn’t be certain that Han Solo would be. Meaning, I hadn’t seen Han Solo return after nearly 40 years, either. And it wasn’t until we got on set that I got my answer. It was a remarkable thing to see how effortlessly Harrison Ford became Han Solo again."
I can only imagine that Abrams had the same concern for Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher. This isn't the first time Abrams hinted to his worries about Ford. There was at one point he worried about his growly voice, saying:
“I knew that he had done in some movies a kind of more growly thing, and I didn’t want Han to be growly.”
That's obviously not going to be a problem. Those fears Abrams had seemed to melt away when he saw “a fire in his eyes that you see in the movie.” I think fans all got a glimpse of that fire when we saw Han Solo pop up at the end of that second teaser trailer for the movie.
I don't know about you, but I never doubted that Ford would just step right back into the role of Han Solo with no problems at all.