Paul Bettany Joins Han Solo Spinoff Film

While most Star Wars fans spent Force Friday II trying to get their hands on as many Porg-related items as they could find, Ron Howard, replacement director on the Han Solo spinoff film, took to social media to announce that Paul Bettany had joined the film.

The initial tweet was somewhat vague, not clarifying whether Bettany, a frequent collaborator with Howard, was on set to shoot something or was merely stopping by.

A follow-up tweet from Howard confirmed that the duo were working together for the film.

The pair previously worked together on A Beautiful Mind and The Da Vinci Code.

Additionally, Slashfilm reports that their sources revealed Bettany would be taking over the role originally played by Michael K. Williams, who had to drop out of the role due to scheduling conflicts.

Little is known about the actual character, but the extensive reshoots weren’t accounted for when Williams initially filmed his role, so he couldn’t come back to set to shoot new scenes. Rather, it appears Howard reached out to a frequent collaborator to play the character in the new scenes.

The character was also originally going to have some motion-capture and CGI elements, but with how much longer the reshoots are lasting than previously expected, it appears as though the character will now just be human without CGI elements.

The untitled Han Solo film hits theaters May 25, 2018, the same month Bettany will appear in Avengers: Infinity War as Vision.