Alden Ehrenreich Confirmed as New Han Solo at Star Wars Celebration Europe

As reported back in May, actor Alden Ehrenreich will play Han Solo in the next A Star Wars Story film, which will delve into the pre-Rebellion backstory of everyone's favorite scruffy nerf-herder.

Ehrenreich, 26, was widely reported as having landed the coveted Star Wars role in Disney and Lucasfilm's upcoming standalone film, but until an appearance at Star Wars Celebration Europe today, no official Disney source had confirmed the casting.

The iconic role was originally played by Harrison Ford.

The reveal came during the Future Filmmaker Panel at Celebration. The panel featured Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy (Producer) and Kiri Hart (Senior Vice President of Development), who were joined by director Rian Johnson (Star Wars: Episode VIII) and directing duo Chris Miller and Phil Lord (the untitled Han Solo Star Wars story).

Hosted by Lucasfilm Story Group's Pablo Hidalgo, the filmmakers were joined by surprise guests John Boyega (Finn), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) and Carrie Fisher (General Leia Organa) from Star Wars: Episode VIII.

The Han Solo standalone film will take place, like Rogue One and the animated series Star Wars Rebels, in the time between Episodes 3 and 4, and will deal with how Han Solo became the characters fans first met in A New Hope.

The film will be directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The LEGO Movie, 21 Jump Street), based on a screenplay written by Lawrence Kasdan (The Empire Strikes Back, The Force Awakens) and his son Jon.

Han Solo: A Star Wars Story (likely not the film's official title) will be released on May 25, 2018.