Lucasfilm ventured into new ground last December with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story marking the first non-Skywalker story to be told in theatrical form. This is only the beginning for the studio as well with them hoping to alternate between saga films and these anthology tales on a yearly basis. The studio will be relaunching a familiar character in a brand new way next year, however when the young Han Solo movie hits theaters.

With Alden Ehrenreich stepping in to play a younger version of Harrison Ford’s lovable scoundrel, the breakout star from Hail, Caesar! has been surrounded by a number of notable stars. The newest addition to the cast is Michael K. Williams in a reported key role, which may be quite substantial.

Variety’s Justin Kroll, the man responsible for breaking Williams’ casting, has revealed a new but unconfirmed aspect of his casting. According to his sources, Williams will be playing the main villain in Han Solo, but character details beyond that point remain a mystery.

Fans will have to wait to discover just who exactly Williams will be playing. There is a chance that director Phil Lord and Chris Miller could pull from the now disregarded Expanded Universe and bring a fan favorite villain back into actual Star Wars canon. Then again, they could just as well put Williams in a brand new role.

In fact, much of the cast’s roles are unconfirmed at this point. Outside of Ehrenreich in the leading role and Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, the rest of the cast’s chacters have not been announced. Woody Harrelson may have revealed that he is playing Garris Shrike, but even that has since come with denials. With production already underway, it could be some time before we know who Emilia Clarke, Thandie Newton, and Williams are actually playing.

It should be interesting to see if Lucasfilm uses just as many new characters in Han Solo as they did in Rogue One, or if they use this opportunity to bring in other familiar faces for die-hard Star Wars fans. Thanks to the entire plot of the movie being kept under wraps to this point, Williams could play another smuggler, a bounty hunter, or any number of possible rogues. Once Lucasfilm begins to release more official information on the film at either Star Wars Celebration or D23, how Williams and everyone else fits into this mysterious story should become more clear.

Source: Justin Kroll

  • Star Wars 8 Release Date: 2017-12-15 Han Solo Release Date: 2018-05-25 Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker Release Date: 2019-12-20