The news for the recently announced STAR WARS sequels just keeps on coming. Yesterday it was revealed that Matthew Vaughan may have left X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST in order the helm STAR WARS EPISODE VII, and now we are hearing that Harrison Ford is “open” to returning as everyone’s favourite Corellian Smuggler. This comes as a huge surprise, considering Ford has always been quite vocal about his displeasure at the arc taken by Solo. It didn’t get any better when George Lucas refused to kill off Han in STAR WARS: EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI.
I thought he should have died in the last one to give it some bottom…George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.
Said Ford back in 2010 in an interview with ABC. The latest news is being reported as coming from a source close to the production. Speaking to EW, the source said:
Harrison is open to the idea of doing the movie and he’s upbeat about it, all three of them (Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher) are.
Ford became the biggest star out of the entire cast with hits and critical darlings such as BLADE RUNNER, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, PATRIOT GAMES, THE FUGITIVE and WITNESS. There has been talk that the new STAR WARS trilogy will take place 30 years after the original trilogy ended. It would be great to have Harrison Ford back, rather than an offscreen death or simple mentions in passing, even if it is true that one of the contractual stipulations will be that Han has to die. Before any negotiations continue, Ford will be waiting for a script and a director to be confirmed.
I love the idea of Ford returning to the role, and pretty much demand it be so. After all, he was willing to return to INDIANA JONES in the dire fourth installment INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL. With new leadership at Lucasfilm, this dream could soon become a reality.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
