‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ Behind-the-Scenes Reel Shown at D23 Japan

While the world finally got their first look at Lucasfilm‘s latest film at the Super Bowl, the lucky fans at Disney’s D23 Expo Japan got to see something exclusive.

Instead of playing one of the two new trailers for Solo: A Star Wars Story, fans at the event were treated to a behind-the-scenes feature introduced by the movie’s director, Ron Howard.

It’s unclear what was included in the behind-the-scenes reel, but it’s a somewhat surprising move for Lucasfilm considering the movie’s tumultuous production. Lucasfilm does tend to release these kinds of special looks at their movies, but it’s usually a part of a long-running promotional blitz that takes place over the year.

For The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, behind-the-scenes footage was revealed at San Diego Comic-Con and at Disney’s D23 Expo in Anaheim. Those events were five months before the film hit theaters, and months after the movies’ first trailers were revealed.

Solo: A Star Wars Story is due in theaters in less than four months, with the first trailers only coming last week. This truncated promotional schedule is likely due to both the May release date, instead of December premieres that every Disney-owned Lucasfilm movie has had, as well as the production woes.

We’ll never know how significantly the marketing campaign was impacted after the directors changed.

Ron Howard came on board the film toward the end of principal photography, with about four weeks left of filming before Christopher Miller and Phil Lord exited the production. Howard oversaw about seven more weeks of filming, including significant reshoots of material already shot.

The production’s reshoots were so extensive that Michael K. Williams other commitments precluded his involvement, and the actor was replaced with Paul Bettany, who we recently learned is playing a boss in the criminal underworld.

Had the production of Solo: A Star Wars Story gone swimmingly, it’s hard to think Lucasfilm would have waited this long to even show some footage of the film.

With the release of this behind-the-scenes footage, it’ll be interesting to see how the production company frames the narrative. Will they include clips of Miller and Lord’s time on the film, or will it be exclusively focused on Howard’s tenure?

Hopefully Lucasfilm releases this footage for everyone soon, giving fans yet another glimpse at their upcoming Han Solo anthology movie.

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