No it’s not yet official, and there have already been several rumours and statements circulating on which of the original trilogy cast might return since the announcement of the new Star Wars trilogy . This latest piece of news however is full of confidence, and is reporting that indeed Harrison Ford will be returning to the role of Han Solo in the new Star Wars films.Quoting “legitimate sources” and “full due diligence”, El Mayimbe representing Latino Review explained to Fox News that the deal to secure Ford is done and that a future announcement is merely a formality. There has been no such announcement from either Lucasfilm or Disney at this point, so the statement has not been corroborated by any official source, so while convincing, at this point the report can’t be taken for 100% accurate until someone more official weighs in on the subject.
In the meantime however we can all speculate! Harrison Ford did recently indicate he’d be open to reprising the role which is certainly a contrast to his previous stance throughout the years where he has distanced himself from his iconic roles of the 1980’s. Of course this view has softened in recent years leading to him returning to the role of Indiana Jones for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
The question is do fans want the aging actor to return to this role? From a story perspective Solo isn’t necessarily the most critical role to bring back from the original trilogy, if there was only one character to return the role of Skywalker is a far more important one in terms of the galactic setting and the resurgence of the Jedi Order, of course that doesn’t preclude other characters from returning alongside him.
From a performance point of view does Ford still have the ability to pull of the charisma of the scoundrel with a heart of gold? Our closest recent benchmark would have to be Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and while that film has more than its fair share of problems, Ford’s performance isn’t one of them, so if there’s a logical role for him in the new trilogy, bring back Han!
