Does This 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' Speeder Pay Homage to Harrison Ford?

Now that Disney has finally released a teaser for the highly-anticipated Solo: A Star Wars Story, [...]

By Patrick Cavanaugh

Now that Disney has finally released a teaser for the highly-anticipated Solo: A Star Wars Story, fans can begin to dissect each and every frame to theorize clues about what the film will hold and see how its cast compares to the original actors. The filmmakers might not want to draw direct comparisons to Harrison Ford and his performance of Han Solo, but they may have given the actor a slight nod with a certain set of speeder lights.

During a chase sequence in the teaser, Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) is being chased by Imperial troopers in a speeder with distinct tail lights. Many drew comparisons to how they resembled the lights on a Ford Falcon. While it's possible that the similarities are merely a coincidence, it would be hard to ignore that the make and model of the real-world vehicle would serve as a subtle nod to the iconic performer.

The upcoming movie is sure to borrow many elements from Ford's performance, while the most recent film in the Skywalker Saga, The Last Jedi, also made sure Han had a place in the films even after his death.

One of the most jaw-dropping moments in the film came from Holdo's decision to turn her ship towards the First Order and jump into hyperspace, effectively eviscerating many of the fleet's most important ships. The Last Jedi writer/director Rian Johnson recently shared this was a direct payoff to something Solo said in the first film.

"I'm sure that a lot of fans had thought ever since Han was talking about how if you don't get the calculations right you could go through [a star]," Johnson explained to the Empire Film Podcast. "I always wanted to see what that would look like and the guys at ILM at some point, somebody hit upon that exposure idea of everything going silent. Because we were struggling with how do we make this visually impressive and when somebody hit on that, and that came up on the screen, we were just like, OHHH, this is going to be cool."

Another reference involved a pair of gold dice that Luke came across on the Millennium Falcon. While these objects weren't directly referenced in the original films, fans could quickly see the sentimental value of them based on Leia and Kylo Ren's reactions upon seeing them.

Solo: A Star Wars Story lands in theaters on May 25.

[H/T Twitter, bullray34]

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