Alden Ehrenreich tapped to play young Han Solo in new "Star Wars" anthology film
The galaxy's favorite scoundrel is coming back to the big screen.
Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller have tapped "Hail, Caesar" star Alden Ehrenreich to fill the coveted role of Han Solo in an upcoming stand-alone "Star Wars" film, sources tell Deadline. Ehrenreich is reportedly still negotiating the details of the deal, and Disney and Lucasfilm have yet to make any official statement on the news.
Ehrenreich's casting comes after months of speculation, with a host of young actors named as contenders. Among the shortlist were Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller, Dave Franco and Taron Egerton.
Much like December's "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," the Han Solo film will be a stand-alone flashback, telling the story of the character before he met Luke Skywalker and joined the Rebel Alliance in 1977's "Star Wars." No plot details have been revealed, and the film is slated for a 2018 release.
Ehrenreich was most recently seen in the Coen Brothers' "Hail, Caesar," and he made his feature film debut in Francis Ford Coppola's "Tetro" after being discovered by Steven Spielberg at a Los Angeles bat mitzvah.
The character that made Harrison Ford famous has certainly been on directors Lord and Miller's minds, as Miller celebrated May the 4th by tweeting a photo of Han Solo's iconic blaster: