Is 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' Making Han's EU Origin Canon?

The Solo: A Star Wars Story teaser is finally here, and while the spot is setting up for the full [...]

The Solo: A Star Wars Story teaser is finally here, and while the spot is setting up for the full trailer airing on Good Morning America Monday morning this first look at the upcoming film has given fans a lot to consider, including how the film might deal with Han Solo's origin.

In the teaser (which you can watch in the video above) we see a young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) trying to join up with the Imperial Academy, declaring that he wants to become the best pilot in the galaxy. For many fans -- especially those who have read the Star Wars Extended Universe materials -- this is a clear nod that the film is using that EU origin and, therefore, making it canon along with a few other things spotted in the trailer, specifically pod racing on Corellia. This would be massively significant seeing as how, when Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012, the old EU was rebranded as "Legends" and then kicked out of the Star Wars canon. All that was left of the "real" Star Wars universe was the movies and newer material that came after.

What fans are most interested in is the possibility that Solo might bring the trilogy of novels by A.C. Crispin into canon. In those stories, Crispin revealed that Han was an orphan on Corellia, that he was taken in by space pirates, served under a crime lord named Garris Shrike, escaped as a teen, became a smuggler, and then pursued a career as an Imperial pilot. While training, Han saw an officer beating a Wookiee and intervened, leading to the ultimate friendship of Han and Chewbacca, the pair then going off to become a smuggling team who won the Millennium Falcon in a game of Sabacc from Lando Calrissian

For fans, the idea that Solo might bring that EU history firmly in as an incontrovertible part of canon is tantalizing, but it might be a little too soon to declare Han a lost prince of Corellia. First and foremost, what we saw in the teaser for Solo is just that: a teaser. The trailer may very well expand on some of the things seen in this teaser that provides a context for why Han appears to be joining up with the Empire and even if it doesn't, what we see in the teaser may not be the reality once we see the film in its entirety. This is something most recently seen with teasers and trailers for Star Wars: The Last Jedi that had fans theorizing everything from Rey joining the Dark Side to Snoke secretly being the first Jedi among other things. None of those teaser and trailer-inspired theories ended up being true.

What is more likely is that Solo is going to do what even The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi have done and that is take elements of the discarded EU and bring them into the films. For example, Ben Solo/Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi is a pretty close analogue for Jacen Solo. In the EU, Jacen is the son of Han and Leia, twin to Jaina Solo, and a Jedi Knight who becomes the Sith Lord Darth Caedus. Like Kylo Ren, Jacen is sympathetic to his grandfather, Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. Jacen also kills a family member in order to complete his transition to the Dark Side -- though he kills his aunt, Mara Jade Skywalker (wife of Luke) instead of his father.

It's also worth noting that Crispin's trilogy isn't the only backstory Han Solo has in the EU. An earlier Han-centric trilogy written by Brian Daley and while Crispin does fold much of Daley's trilogy into hers. That opens up a lot more within the EU for Solo to possibly explore.

Ultimately, though, even if Solo does heavily borrow from Crispin's EU history of the character, that doesn't mean the EU will be restored to canon status within the Star Was Franchise. After all, in the 1999 novel Star Wars: The New Jedi Order - Vector Prime by R.A. Salvatore Chewbacca dies saving the life of another of Han and Leia's children and, last, we checked, Chewbacca is alive and well in the current Star Wars universe while Han, sadly, is not.

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

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