Han Solo And Boba Fett Spin-off Films Coming From Disney
It seems like Disney is definitely set on making some Star Wars spin-off films to be released between official episodes of the sequel trilogy. Yesterday we heard about a Yoda movie, but Entertainment Weekly is claiming that Han Solo and Boba Fett will be getting their own stand-alone films. Han Solo’s will explore the smuggler’s origins, set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, perhaps with an older Harrison Ford as a framing device for a new actor younger than Han Solo’s original portrayal. Meanwhile Boba Fett’s will be a bounty hunter adventure, set either between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back or between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Both of these sound better than a Yoda movie, if true. And as an added bonus, being set earlier in the story allows both Darth Vader and Jabba the Hutt to be alive, which is probably an attractive option for Disney to help market the film with even more iconic characters. Captain America director Joe Johnston had also pitched the idea of a Boba Fett film a while back, and while he may not be the best choice in my mind for such a film, he is the guy who designed Boba Fett’s armor. There’s a possible basis for Han Solo’s backstory in the recent novel Scoundrels, but apparently it wouldn’t be used for the film covering the same period.
But looking more critically, I’m not sure these characters need their own movies. Lucasfilm and Disney run the risk of overexplaining things just like the prequels did. We don’t really need to know about Han Solo’s past, because the character is well-established as he coldly shoots Greedo and then has an arc over the original trilogy. Boba Fett has more potential, since he’s such a blank slate, but I’d argue one of the reasons he’s cool is because audiences don’t know much about him other than his action-figure-selling coolness.
I’ll hope for the best though, and with the right script and director, almost any concept could work. Hell, with a good script and director — i.e. not Lucas — even the prequels could have worked!
Source: Entertainment Weekly