The news broke back in April that Alden Ehrenreich would likely be cast as Han Solo in the upcoming Star Wars spinoff film, and in May, Deadline reported he’d landed the part, but studios Disney and Lucasfilm remained silent on the matter. They broke their silence Sunday, when Ehrenreich was brought on stage during a panel at the Star Wars Celebration convention in London and officially introduced as the young Han Solo.
According to the event’s live blog, Ehrenreich said that the audition process took roughly six months, including a screen test on the Millennium Falcon with Chewbacca. “I’ve never screen-tested with a Wookie. It was amazing,” Ehrenreich told the audience. Star Wars: The Force Awakens star John Boyega wished Ehrenreich luck, telling him, “You’re gonna be fine. You’ve got that charm stuff down.”
Ehrenreich will play Han Solo in an as-yet-untitled Star Wars film that will be released on May 26, 2018, and will be directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Lord and Miller pointed out at the panel that they’d technically already worked with Han Solo, since a Lego version of the iconic smuggler appeared in their film The Lego Movie. Shooting on the Solo film won’t begin until January or February of 2017; in the meantime, here’s the best scene from Hail, Caesar!, in which Ehrenreich plays a Western actor unsuccessfully making his way into melodrama:
