Why Star Wars Fans Should Be Excited About Their New Han Solo

Jacqueline Gualtieri ’18 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

Although it still remains unnamed, the Han Solo prequel film now has its lead. Alden Ehrenreich was chosen to play young Han Solo in the film, which is set to take place before the original Star Wars trilogy.
Rumor has it that Disney auditioned nearly 2,500 actors for the role. Among them included prominent names like Miles Teller, Taron Egerton, Dave Franco, and Scott Eastwood. In early March, the names were narrowed down to the final three: Egerton, Jack Reynor, and Ehrenreich. Egerton saw a lot of success last year with his film, Kingsman: The Secret Service and this year with Eddie the Eagle. Reynor came to prominence thanks to his role in Transformers: Age of Extinction and was just in a leading Sing Street, which came to theaters earlier this April.
Like Reynor, Ehrenreich only recently became a more well-known actor. Earlier this year, he played Hobie Doyle, a sweet Western actor, in the Coen brothers’ Hail, Caesar! Among many famous faces like George Clooney and Channing Tatum, it would have been easy for Ehrenreich’s Doyle to have been forgotten, but Ehrenreich stole the show. Before this film, Ehrenreich’s biggest role was Ethan Wate in the film adaption of the young adult novel, Beautiful Creatures, ultimately a box office flop.

One of the biggest audience complaints regarding the Han Solo prequel is that no one can do Han Solo like Harrison Ford. While probably true, it’s a moot point. We can’t go back in time and bring back young Harrison Ford to play this role. It might be easy to dismiss the film because of that fact, but Ehrenreich deserves a chance. He shares young Ford’s roguish good looks and acting chops. In every prominent film that Ehrenreich has been in he’s been reviewed nicely. Adding to his credentials, Ehrenreich was in fact discovered by Steven Spielberg at a friend’s bar mitzvah back in 2005. If Spielberg saw something in him back when he was just 15 years old, perhaps fans should consider that he might be a welcome addition to the Star Wars family.
Aside from his acting ability, the best thing that Ehrenreich has going for him is that he’s not yet a household name, building his career out of the public eye. If Disney cast Egerton, they run the risk of the audience seeing Eggsy from Kingsman. If Disney cast Teller, audiences might see Andrew from Whiplash. Hobie Doyle was a great character, but not a big enough role for Ehrenreich to become a household name. When the audience sees Ehrenreich, they’ll see Solo. They can’t expect him to act a certain way because he’s never been typecast. He has free reign to make the character his own.

It should go without saying that Ehrenreich should study Ford’s Solo and should attempt to stay true to character, but the biggest mistake that he could make would be to attempt to copy it fully. Watching him do that would not be Ehrenreich playing Solo, but instead Ehrenreich playing Ford playing Solo. The audience would feel how fake that performance would be. That would truly be cause for the audience to miss Ford. However, Ehrenreich’s Solo, despite naturally being slightly different from Ford’s Solo, could be a great new character for the Star Wars universe, as long as the fans are willing to give him the opportunity to show them.
The Untitled Han Solo Star Wars Story film is slated to open May 25th, 2018.