Woody Harrelson Confirms He's Playing Garris Shrike in HAN SOLO Film
Not long ago Lucasfilm announced that Woody Harrelson will be taking on the role of Han Solo's mentor in Phil Lord and Chris Miller's Han Solo standalone movie. Over the weekend at Sundance, the actor confirmed that he would be taking on the role of Garris Shrike in the film. This was what he said in a conversation with Variety, who flat out asked him if he was playing this specific character:
Woody, we have to ask you a Star Wars question. It's been revealed that you're the Han Solo mentor. Can you confirm that it's Garris Shrike? Or what can you tell us?
Woody Harrelson: Confirm what?
That you're playing the character of Garris?
[Others in the interview talk while Harrelson thinks]
Woody Harrelson: Yeah, I am.
For those of you not familiar with who Garris Shrike is, he's part of the extended universe and he's the one who took Han Solo under his wing. He was created by Ann C. Crispin for the novel The Paradise Snare. He's described as having a hard edge with a quick draw and a deadly aim. He's also impatient and quick-tempered. Here's a more detailed description of the character and his history from Wiki:
Garris Shrike was the man who raised Han Solo. As a young man, he was a bounty hunter, but his quick temper kept him from collecting many live bounties. Instead, he turned to crime, collecting a group of orphans whom he used in confidence tricks and thefts, based aboard the decommissioned troopship Trader's Luck in orbit over Corellia. One of those orphans was Han Solo. Shrike rescued Solo from the streets, raised him, trained him, and beat him profusely when aggravated.
In 10 BBY, Solo fled from Trader's Luck after a showdown with Shrike in which Shrike's brother Larrad was injured and Shrike killed Dewlannamapia, the Wookiee who had served as Solo's mother figure. After Solo accumulated a large bounty due to his actions as a smuggler for the Hutts, Shrike set out to track him down. He caught up with Solo on Coruscant and captured him, but after a brawl with Solo, Shrike was shot to death by a competing bounty hunter.
I'm sure that Lord, Miller, and Lucasfilm will take some creative liberties with the character and change up some things about him for the movie, but it's pretty awesome to see that Lucasfilm is still looking to the extended universe for inspiration on their upcoming films. This character is a perfect fit for Harrelson, and I'm sure he's going to do a great job bringing him to life in the film. I'm excited to see his take on the character.