We reported in March that a rumored shortlist of young actors vying to become the young Han Solo has been written down and that Alden Ehrenreich, Taron Egerton and Jack Reynor made the cut. Now we have an slightly more official update.
Sources report that, after seeing thousands of young actors, about a dozen young men who are being considered to become the younger version of Harrison Ford's beloved Star Wars character, Han Solo, have been shortlisted and, yes, the three names above are still on Disney and LucasFilm's list.
Among the actors shortlisted are the following: Emory Cohen, Scott Eastwood, Taron Egerton, Alden Ehrenreich , Ansel Elgort, Dave Franco, Blake Jenner, Logan Lerman, Jack Reynor, and Miles Teller.
From the list of names above, we can confirm two things: the first is that a source who is knowledgeable about the casting decisions for the Han Solo spinoff film says that Alden Ehrenreich is currently leading the pack based on his strong performance and, second, Teller confirms that he is already out of the running.
The source also says that the executives and directorial team Phil Lord and Christopher Miller will meet with the shortlisted candidates in the next couple of weeks before they make the final decision. But if it is true that the young Han Solo will make a cameo appearance in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, it is almost for certain that one of the young actors will be chosen soon because Rogue One will supposedly wrap up filming in a month's time.
The film is not schedule to begin production until 2017 but we have an idea that it will be as epic as Han Solo's character is because everyone in the production wants it to happen.
"This is a dream come true for us [...] the kind of dream where you get to make a film with some of the greatest characters ever, in a film franchise you've loved since before you can remember having dreams at all," Lord and Miller said when they were trusted with the project.
As for Teller who didn't make the cut, his head is still held high not because he is too proud to admit defeat but because he seems to understand why it happened and accept the result of his own actions.
"I had never even seen any of the original Star Wars movies until maybe a month or a couple weeks before my first audition," Teller admitted. He does admit that he loves Harrison Ford and Han Solo when he finally saw the films but at least that is a lesson learned for the actor when vying for a coveted role. This is also a very good lesson for when an actor is about to work with a production team whose dream it is to make a film devoted to an iconic character.
The still untitled Han Solo movie is scheduled to take off— possibly with the Millenium Falcon— on May 25, 2018.
