Solo: A Star Wars Story is almost upon us, and like every Star Wars release ever, May 24th is destined to be an event.
There’s never been a better time to immerse ourselves in the fictional galaxy far, far away – mostly due to the impending WWIII in a galaxy much, much closer – and so fan theories both far-fetched and plausible have been running rampant online and around water coolers in offices across the globe. Somewhere out there, Dwight Schrute is blowing up at Jim Halpert for calling it Ham Solo: A Space Battle.
The release of the latest Solo trailer has given us a *touch* more context to the otherwise under-wraps plot (Ron Howard you sneaky bastard), but essentially your guess is as good as ours.
Before we get to the fan theories, here’s a super basic recap of the latest trailer so everyone’s on the same page. Full disclosure, the trailer’s fairly hectic so bear with us.
- A newcomer to the Star Wars franchise, Qi’Ra (Emilia Clarke) questions Han Solo‘s (Alden Ehrenreich) motives (“You’re after something. Is it revenge? Money? Or is it something else?”) before low-key burning him on his appearance for looking like a hot mess. Or, is she referencing the fact that they both grew up rough together? A rekindling of sorts, perhaps?
- There’s a shot of Han emulating old Western movies by wearing a blaster holstered around his leg.
- We get a glimpse of new robo on the block, L3-37 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) who’s absolutely destroying an unidentified mean man’s face, before showing him mercy like the gracious ‘bot she is.
- We see charismatic crim Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson) extend an invite to Han to join an ominous sounding “crew” led by a full-blown gangstah.
- Qi’Ra introduces Han to Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover), who’s described as “the best smuggler around”. Okay, so it’s a bit of a heist situation we’re guessing. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Blasters, anyone?
- It wraps up with a tonne of action sequences involving the Millenium Falcon that are difficult to make heads or tales of it.
Slightly confused? So are we. In the best possible way, obvi.
If you haven’t already, you can try to decipher the trailer for yourselves below:
Thankfully, Star Wars diehards have been fawning over the trailer ever since it dropped and have produced some fairly credible theories.
Han Solo: Space-Narc
Solo: A Star Wars story fan theory (since I haven’t seen this one suggested yet (though its probably out there)) from r/StarWarsTheories
Not bad, Redditor ArcLeJoan, not bad indeed. The idea that Han starts out as a space-narc is genius, mainly because everyone loves to hate a narc as much as they hate to love a filthy crime boss, so there’s bound to be some pretty strong reactions on either side of that coin.
Wookiee Rescue
Not dissimilar to Willy Wonka rescuing the Oompa Loompas from whatever hell they were enduring, Han bailing Chewie out of the slave-trade in Kessel would be a welcome and heartwarming lil plotline.
Darth Vader-Esque Reveal
Qi’Ra turning out to be pirate gang-leader Enfys Nest would be 2018’s slightly less dramatic answer to the biggest reveal in movie history *cough* Darth Vader spilling that bit of tea *cough*.
There’s not much credibility to this claim just yet, except for the fact that they’re both females? We guess? Or maybe because they’re both new characters to the franchise, which is a slightly stronger thread to pull at, just.
Return of the Hutt
Hypothetical yet probable plotline aside, the return of Jabba the Hutt has been widely speculated after Ben Morris, the alleged “source” and a crew member who worked on the visual effects for Solo, all but confirmed a Jabba sighting to The Sun.
It would make sense seeing as Han and Jabba have history (and chemistry? OoooOO, gay inter-species plot-twist, we’re calling it now). Plus, these Star Wars spin-offs have a tendency to tap into the nostalgia to keep their older fans invested. (Grand Moff Tarkin popping up in Rogue One, ring any bells?)
Emilia Clarke Carks It
Redditor wreckingballheart has clearly done their homework, and the plot seems sturdy af, but the real kicker is poor Qi’Ra kicking the bucket after pissing off Enfys Nest immensely.
The numero uno question that presents itself from this, among many others, is how exactly Enfys would go about killing Qi’Ra? After only glimpsing a brief shot of Enfys in the trailer, we can safely say it’d be a prolonged, painful death.
Writer’s Prediction: I can’t help but hope for Donald Glover to briefly morph into his alter ego and bang out a rendition of “Redbone” while straddling the Millenium Falcon. It’s probably not the most credible prediction/wish out there, but jeez would it be entertaining.
You can find out what fan theories stuck the landing when Solo: A Star Wars Story drops on May 24th.
