The search for a new Han Solo is on and it’s as daunting as you’d think
Wanted: a young heartthrob who’s good with a blaster, cool with being frozen in carbonite, and can make the kessel run in 12 parsecs. Do you fit perfectly into that description? Great, then you might just be the next Han Solo.
Even though Star Wars: The Force Awakens hasn’t opened yet, and won’t for another two weeks, Disney and Lucasfilm are already looking to the future of the franchise. That includes Star Wars Stories, which will work as stand-alone anthology stories. The first one, Rogue One, is about the plans to steal the Death Star before the events of Episode IV, and opens in 2016. The next one up after that will focus on a cocky young pilot.
This Han Solo movie will be directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (from the Jump Street movies and The Lego Movie) with a script by father-son duo Lawrence and Jon Kasdan (who have been working with Star Wars for a long time). The movie is super top-secret, and referred to top-secretly as “Red Cup.” For one, that’s a nod to the SOLO red cups found at college parties (GET IT?) and two, that’s exactly not so top secret anymore.
While behind the scenes everything is slowly coming together, in front of the camera literally everyone in Hollywood is auditioning for the role. Seriously, everyone. According to The Hollywood Reporter, an astonishing 2,500 actors between the ages of 18 to 32 have auditioned for the part so far.
It might be the easiest to audition for, but it’s going to be the hardest to snag because competition is TOUGH. Ready to hear THR‘s list of actors vying for the part? These are just the actors who have been made public, and in alphabetical order, here goes: Aaron Taylor-Johnson from Kickass; Ansel Elgort from The Fault In Our Stars; Chandler Riggs from Walking Dead; Colton Haynes from Arrow; Dave Franco from Now You See Me; Ed Westwick from Gossip Girl; Hunter Parrish from Weeds; Jack Reynor from Transformers; Joshua Sasse from Galavant;Landon Liboiron from Degrassi; Leo Howard from Kickin’ It; Logan Lerman from Percy Jackson; Max Thieriot from Bates Motel; Miles Teller from Whiplash; Nick Robinson from Jurassic World; Rami Malek from Mr. Robot; Tom Felton from Harry Potter; and Tony Oller from The Purge.
And that’s just 18 out of 2,482 with a dream to be the OG scruffy looking nerf herder. According to THR, there are still others, like a “few young comedians [who] have been asked to read [for the part]” in hopes of capturing Han’s wit and charm one-two-punch. Yeah, but how are they at playing sabacc — aka the game that won Han the Falcon from his buddy Lando Calrissian?
The Han Solo movie isn’t expected to open until 2018, so that gives everyone plenty of time to find the perfect space pirate for the role. And then we can all turn our attention to the second most important character in this movie: landing the perfect young Chewbacca.
(Image via Lucasfilm)
