Han Solo Movie Will Kill Off Harrison Ford? Star Wars 7 Rumors Say Spinoff Release Date Set For 2018

Could the rumored Han Solo movie not even be about Han at all? It’s possible that the character played by Harrison Ford could be killed off some time in Star Wars Episode 7, which would help make sense of the Han Solo movie release date schedule.

In a related report by The Inquisitr, the Boba Fett movie release date has been unofficially confirmed for 2016. Star Wars 7 has just started filming in the Abu Dhabi desert, and from all descriptions it sounds like Tatooine is making a comeback in some form or another. Director J.J. Abrams also shared the very first photo from the set.

Now the latest Star Wars 7 rumors come to us via Hasbro. During a recent event, the toy maker revealed the year they were planning on releasing the toys and also which Stars Wars movies they were planning on. Here is the known Star Wars release date schedule:

• 2014: Rebels
• 2015: Episode VII
• 2016: Boba Fett
• 2017: Episode VIII
• 2018: Solo
• 2019: Episode IX
• 2020: Red Five

The Rebels reference is not for a movie, but is instead for the Star Wars: Rebels TV show. Otherwise, the big surprise was the reference to Red Five, which many presume will mean there will be a X-wing rogue squadron movie.

But if the title for the Han Solo movie is correct it may be hinting at a plot surprise reserved for the main movies. Notice how it says just “Solo,” not “Han Solo”? While I might be reading way too much into this, it’s also possible this means the Solo movie will be focused on a member of the family and not the famous Corellian smuggler. So how would this work?

The first possibility is that Han Solo dies in either Episode 7 or Episode 8. Such a scenario is not unthinkable and has been suggested in the past. For example, in the 2004 documentary Empire Of Dreams, Harrison Ford told us he wanted Han Solo dead in Episode 6:

“I thought Han Solo should die. I thought he ought to sacrifice himself for [Luke and Leia]. He’s got no mama. He’s got no papa. He’s got no future. He has no story responsibilities at this point. So let’s allow him to commit self-sacrifice.”

Screenplay writer Lawrence Kasdan, who wrote The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the new Boba Fett movie, also said, “I also felt someone had to go…. It should happen very early in the last act so you begin to worry about everybody.” Han Solo’s death would also make sense of the working title of The Ancient Fear for Star Wars 7. Besides a reference to falling to the dark side, what other fear is more ancient than death?

Way before Anakin Skywalker turned to the dark side, it became obvious he could not accept the inevitability and the unconquerable reality of death. The fear of death drove him to become powerful enough to defeat it for the sake of stopping Padmé’s death, and Palpatine claimed that in turning to the dark side Anakin could achieve this power.

So it’s possible this particular theme will be revived for the third act of the Star Wars saga, and Han Solo’s death will be the catalyst for the events that occur in the final two episodes. If that’s the case, Adam Driver, who is thought to be playing a ‘Darth Vader’-like villain, is also rumored to be cast as Solo and Leia’s son. We do not know how much time will be passing between each major episode, so it’s possible that a Solo movie featuring Driver will fill in the gap in-between Episode 8 and Episode 9.

Otherwise, the only other major possibilities for a Han Solo movie would be to either show what happened to Han in-between Episode 6 and Episode 7 or to go back in time between Episode 3 and Episode 4. The former option seems unlikely since Harrison Ford famously does not like the Han Solo character. The latter option makes more sense and would expand on the smuggler’s childhood and tell us where he came from, and possibly how he met Chewbacca.

What would you like to see to see in the Han Solo movie? Do you think Harrison Ford’s character should die?