Disney is Reportedly Planning a Young Han Solo Trilogy with Alden Ehrenreich

When word came out that Hail, Caesar! star Alden Ehrenreich had been chosen to play the young Han Solo in Phil Lord and Chris Miller's upcoming Star Wars spin-off movie, for some reason I thought he'd only be appearing in one Han Solo movie and maybe have a cameo or supporting role in other Star Wars Story spin-offs. I think it's because the only official Star Wars Story we know much about, Rogue One, leads directly into the events of A New Hope with the Rebels stealing the Death Star plans, so I assumed the new Han Solo story would also lead into A New Hope.

But if this new report from the New York Daily News is to be believed, that may not be the case at all. They're claiming that Disney is developing a trilogy of Han Solo films with Ehrenreich at the center, and the studio is presumably waiting to officially pull the trigger on the two sequels until they see if the first one does well enough at the box office.

“They feel that his character has the right potential to become a central figure in several movies,” our source said. “They’re keeping things under wraps at the moment, but the deal is that he has signed for at least three movies.”

Again, I thought maybe Ehrenreich would have signed a multi-movie contract, but that his other appearances would come in other movies (rumor had it a while back that he was filming a small part in Rogue One, though that has yet to be confirmed). But it makes sense from Disney and Lucasfilm's perspective to keep the story open-ended so they can get the most out of Ehrenreich over the next few years. The actor will be twenty-eight years old when the first Solo movie hits theaters in summer of 2018, and Harrison Ford was thirty-five when A New Hope came out, so there's a multi-year window they could pump out a few more Han stories before his age catches up with the timeline (and even then, there's not a guarantee he'll stop when he turns thirty-five).

It's a little early to know if we want three whole movies devoted to this version of Han Solo, but since I have faith in Lord and Miller, I'll say that if they're also involved, I'd be interested in seeing what they brought to the table.