Maybe this Han Solo movie won’t be a disaster after all

The first glimpse of Solo: A Star Wars Story looks surprisingly promising, where Alden Ehrenreich takes on the role of the cocky space pilot previously played with roguish charm by Harrison Ford

Video by Jamie Dunn | 06 Feb 2018

Solo, the latest spin-off in the Star Wars universe, has a lot to prove. Of the four films produced by Disney as part of their Star Wars expanded universe so far, the making of Solo has certainly seemed the rockiest. The original directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, were unceremoniously fired mid-shoot and replaced by Hollywood veteran Ron Howard, while rumour had it that Disney hired an acting coach to guide lead actor Alden Ehrenreich through his performance. The first trailer, for all its worth, however, looks promising.

"I'm gonna be a pilot. The best in the galaxy," we hear Han Solo say in voiceover. Despite this hubris, in the few clips we see of him in the 90 second trailer, Ehrenreich’s take on Solo looks a tad less cocksure than Harrison Ford's version from the original trilogy.

The logline for Solo is thus: "Through a series of daring escapades deep within a dark and dangerous criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his mighty future co-pilot Chewbacca and encounters the notorious gambler Lando Calrissian, in a journey that will set the course of one of the Star Wars saga's most unlikely heroes."

The trailer suggests we have a putting-the-gang-together movie on our hands. Woody Harrelson plays Tobias Beckett, who recruits Solo along with his hairy pal Chewbacca for an undisclosed mission. Also along for the ride looks to be Emilia Clarke's Qi'Ra (who the trailer suggests might be part of the Empire), Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, a mysterious character played by Thandie Newton and some CGI characters who are likely to be in a toy store near you very soon.

We also get a few glimpses of a gleeming, newly-minted Millennium Falcon, which looks quite different from the more lived-in version we saw in the original films.

While it’s always hard to tell from the trailer, this first look at Solo should reassure worried Star Wars fans who have been expecting the worst. Has Ron Howard been the perfect calm head to bring this chaotic production under control? We’ll find out when Solo: A Star Wars Story is released 25 May. Until then, take a look at the trailer in the player above or on YouTube.