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Everything You Need to Know About 'Solo: A Star Wars Story'

Buckle up, baby.

By Jonathan SimPublished 6 years ago 6 min read
Top Story - May 2018
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This Friday, the newest Star Wars standalone film, Solo: A Star Wars Story, will be released.

And we've gotten quite a few trailers and TV spots, so before the film comes out, I want to tell you everything you should know about the film before watching it for the first time on the big screen.

So, without further ado, here we go.

Solo will follow the adventures of a young Han Solo, as he meets his future copilot, Chewbacca, and a gambler named Lando Calrissian. In the film, Han will be joining a gangster crew with Lando, Chewie, his mentor Tobias Beckett, a droid named L3-37, and his childhood friend Qi'ra.

The cast of the film is as follows:

  • Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo
  • Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian
  • Woody Harrelson as Tobias Beckett
  • Emilia Clarke as Qi'ra
  • Thandie Newton as Val
  • Phoebe Waller-Bridge as L3-37
  • Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca
  • Paul Bettany as Dryden Vos

I'd say we know enough about Han, Lando, and Chewie, so let's talk about our new characters.

Tobias Beckett

Beckett is a criminal who serves as Han's mentor. In the trailers, he says he has heard about a "big-shot gangster putting together a crew," and he invites Han and Chewie to the crew.

His advice to everyone is, "Assume everyone will betray you and you will never be disappointed."

Qi'ra

We know that Qi'ra is a criminal who grew up on the streets of Corellia. Han was her childhood friend, and in the film, she comes back into contact with him as they join the same gang.

She grew up working with a few gangs, and of the character, Clarke has said:

"She has a couple of guises, but essentially she is just fighting to stay alive. If you've got a really glamorous lady in a really sordid environment, you kind of know the glamor is hiding a few rough roads."

Val

Val is part of the gang, and she's a no-nonsense crack shot who's adept with a blaster rifle.

She sounds pretty badass, and I think she might be a romantic interest for Beckett. I don't know. We'll see.

L3-37

L3-37 is a feminine droid likely owned by Lando. She cares deeply about droid rights, and from the trailer, she seems as if she can be quite intimidating when she wants to be.

I assume that back when the Millennium Falcon was owned by Lando, Lando and L3 were copilots, but once Lando lost the Falcon to Han, Han and Chewie took over.

Dryden Vos

Dryden is a crime lord. He is the "big-shot gangster" that's putting together the crew that our main characters become a part of. Dryden is known to be ruthless and surrounded himself with luxury.

He is a near-human, and I believe he may be the main antagonist of the film.

Enfys Nest

Enfys is an extremely dangerous marauder with an infamous reputation. She's a pirate who leads a pirate group called the Cloud-Riders, and I believe she will only be a villain for the first act, similar to Jabba the Hutt's role in Return of the Jedi.

Rio Durant

Rio is a four-armed member of the alien species known as Ardennians. He's a pilot who carries out dangerous missions for Beckett, and is voiced by actor/director Jon Favreau.

In one of the TV spots, if you pause and zoom in, you can see an R2 unit. We do not yet know if this is THE R2-D2 from the films, or if this will just be a "blink-and-you'll-miss-it" cameo from R2. But R2 has been in every SW film to date, so I hope we get at least one small scene with R2 like we did in Rogue One.

Also, the actor who portrays C-3PO, Anthony Daniels, will have a small role in the film as Tak, a human slave who's a friend of the Wookiees.

The film was co-written by Lawrence Kasdan. Kasdan had previously co-written The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and The Force Awakens. He co-wrote the film with his son, Jonathan Kasdan.

Throughout the trailers, we have seen this train. This train is called The Conveyex, and according to Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, Han has to prove himself to his gang buddies by stealing something from on the train.

Han performs the train heist with Chewie and Beckett, and they are seen fighting some new Stormtroopers.

The Stormtroopers pictured above are called Range troopers. Their armor has fur in order to help them function better in cold weather.

Also, these are called Mimban Stormtroopers stationed on the planet Mimban. They will also be featured in Solo.

I'd say that's enough background information about the characters we can expect to see. Now, I'm gonna dissect what I believe will happen in the film based off of the trailers.

So, I'm looking at two possible opening scenes for this movie.

The first opening I think will be in the movie involves Han Solo as a child; when he was a young kid growing up on Corellia. We see him meet the young Qi'ra, and we get a little idea of how Han and Qi'ra will grow up to be gang members.

Another opening scene for the movie I'm thinking about would be the adult Han as we see in the film, doing a smuggling job, and we get to see his character develop as we watch him smooth-talk his way out of things and complete a smuggling job.

In one of the TV spots, we see Han is trying to get into the Imperial Academy as a pilot.

However, he later gets kicked out of the flight academy for having a mind of his own. But I assume that this flight academy is where Han learns his skills as a pilot.

During the film, Han runs into Chewie. According to the EU, Han frees Chewie from slavery, and in return, Chewie gives him a life debt and the two become lifelong friends. So, if this doesn't happen in the film, something similar should.

After Han meets Chewie, he comes back into contact with his childhood friend, Qi'ra, and meets a criminal named Beckett. Beckett invites the two of them to join the Crimson Dawn gang, led by Dryden Vos.

While in the gang, Han, Chewie, Beckett, and Qi'ra all assist in stealing an important item from the train while being pursued by the Range troopers.

They succeed in stealing the item for Dryden, and Dryden sends them on another mission in which they would need a pilot and an incredibly fast ship.

So, the team enlists the help of Lando Calrissian and his droid, L3-37. Lando is the pilot of the Millennium Falcon, and as they've stolen the item, they are now under the ruthless pursuit of the Galactic Empire.

They escape on the Falcon, and after this event, I'm looking at a couple possibilities for what can happen. Maybe more than one of these will happen, but here are some of the possibilities for what may happen in the movie.

  • Qi'ra betrays Han, but she doesn't die.
  • Beckett gets killed by Dryden.
  • Han, Lando, and Chewie leave the gang.
  • Qi'ra kills Dryden.
  • The Millennium Falcon makes the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.

And sometime in this movie, I expect Han to play a game of Sabacc with a pair of lucky gold dice against Lando. Han gambles the Falcon, and wins. The film then ends with Han and Chewie getting in the Falcon and jumping to light speed.

Man, I didn't know Chewie was 190 years old. He looks great!

But this movie looks pretty awesome. Solo: A Star Wars Story comes out this Friday, May 25! Check out this awesome TV spot.

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About the Creator

Jonathan Sim

Film critic. Lover of Pixar, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Marvel, DC, Back to the Future, and Lord of the Rings.

For business inquiries: [email protected]

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