It was 1977, and I stood in line with hundreds of other theater patrons for the chance to see Star Wars at Northway Mall’s Cine 1-2-3-4-5-6. I had already read the first three issues of the Marvel Comics adaptation of the movie, so the timing was perfect as far as I was concerned.
And yes, like millions of people who saw Star Wars that year, I was completely mesmerized. It was exciting, it was thrilling.
While most of my friends at the time became instant fans of Luke Skywalker or R2-D2 or Obi-Wan Kenobi… my favorite character in the film was the Corellian smuggler Han Solo. He was the film’s anti-hero, the guy who would do anything for money, but still had a heart of gold and would accomplish whatever was right. And let’s face it. The Millennium Falcon was the movie franchise’s badass spaceship.
Through three installments of the Star Wars film franchise, we saw Han Solo fighting alongside Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, to the point where he eventually was captured and sent to Jabba the Hutt as a prize trophy…
The last Star Wars movie with a Han Solo character was Return of the Jedi in 1983. Thirty years ago. With the announcement last year that the Star Wars series would continue with a new movie in 2015, there were some questions as to whether or not some of the original characters from the first three films would return for this new installment.
And sure enough, an announcement yesterday about the Star Wars movie franchise gave me ope for seeing this new film when it debuts.
Ain’t It Cool News has reported that Harrison Ford has agreed to reprise his role as Han Solo for the soon-to-be produced Episode VII Star Wars film. With the understanding that this film would most likely take place decades after the great battle of Episode VI, this completely works for me.
Besides, I don’t want replacement actors in my Star Wars saga. I don’t want a re-imaging or a re-telling of the story with different actors or performers. I want Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford in these tales.
And even if I can’t get Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia in Episode VII…
I know that there will at least be an appearance of the Millennium Falcon and the best anti-heroic smuggler in sci-fi movie history.
I’ve got a good feeling about this.
Chuck The Writer 
Star Wars played at Cine 1-2-3-4-5-6 for a solid year straight before I actually saw it…my had got a little motion sickness during the death star run!
So Chuck, the question is will Han Solo be protrayed as a vaunted former general trapped in a political post he hates, or will he have abandoned the power and privledge of his fame as a former rebel general and living in the Falcon among the stars, no longer with Leia? I vote the latter.
I saw Carrie Fisher at the 2012 NYC Comic Con and Mark Hamil at the 2011 NYC Comic Con…Ford 2013? I hope so…but his presence would probably packed the place even more than it does get.
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Jango – I’m thinking that after 35 years, Han and Leia are married, and they’ve raised two future Jedi knights… I think that’s been one of the plotlines in the Star Wars Expanded Universe novels, but I’m not 100% sure on that.
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Are they going to bring in Solo/Harrison Ford only to kill him off? That’s what I’ve been reading, but I don’t put much stock into any rumors at this point.
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Considering that the Star Wars movies have killed off several characters in heroic deaths – Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, for example – I would wonder if Han Solo would make one last heroic battle with the Empire, and that maybe his death would be the driving force behind Episodes VIII and IX…
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Carrie Fisher’s reprise is very unlikely.
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I hated the novels, so I hope they ignore the “expanded universe.”
Carrie Fisher needs the work…she’ll be there. There is absolutely no way she’s going to let Ford and Hamil get all the glory and money…besides when I saw her at the 2012 NY Comic Con she looked in better shape than when I saw Hamil there the year before.
Not metal bikini shape mind you.
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Its just been announced that Carrie Fisher has confirmed that she will return as Princess Leia in J.J. Abrams‘ in-the-works Star Wars: Episode VII.
potrzebie: Told you so!
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