Robert here! The Star Wars franchise has been enjoying a commercial and critically successful third wind with the release of new trilogy starting The Force Awakens and standalone, universe expanding film Rogue One. While the next installment of the main nonilogy of films, The Last Jedi, is slated to be released in December, the next standalone film, an origin story for series favorite character Han Solo, has hit a major snarl as directing team Phil Lord and Chris Miller have just announced that they are departing the project.
More after the jump...
According to reports the duo left the project citing creative differences with producer Kathleen Kennedy and co-writer Lawrence Kasdan. The movie began filming in February and still has several weeks of scheduled reshoots left to finish over the summer. Reports have been surfacing throughout the shoot of tensions between the pair and Kennedy and Kasdan, but the news of their official departure from the project is pretty shocking, especially with the film so far into production. At the moment Ron Howard is rumored to be stepping into the role, but no official announcement has been made.
The recent crop of Star Wars films have provided lots of fodder for industry gossips. Most recently Rogue One was plagued by rumors that the films extensive reshoots were due to quality issues with the film. For all the drama, Rogue One was a critical and commercial success.
With the news so fresh off the presses it will be hard to say what the departure of Lord and Miller means for the final product of Han Solo's big solo moment. The movie is stacked with a cast of incredible actors, including Alden Ehrenreich in the Harrison Ford created lead role, Woody Harrelson, Thandie Newton, Donald Glover, and the Khaleesi herself Emilia Clarke. Additionally, Lawrence Kasdan and Kathleen Kennedy both have long histories of successful productions. So all is not necessarily lost, but it's certainly going to be an interesting run for the infamous smuggler.
Are you excited for Han Solo's solo outing or does this news upset you?