Solo: A Star Wars Story: What does Alden Ehrenreich get right about Han Solo?

Solo: A Star Wars Story explores the as of yet uncharted galaxy of Han Solo’s backstory.

Han Solo was first introduced to audiences as a charismatic, if cynical, rebel without a cause, and happily so.

Han spends most of A New Hope trying his best not to join the good guys, only to jump in and help save the day at the last second.

Audiences who have stuck with Han over his many years know that, despite the rough exterior, his heart is in the right place.

Warning this article contains spoilers for Solo: A Star Wars Story

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What does Alden Ehrenreich get right about Han?

Solo: A Star Wars Story had a tricky job to do – show the audience, not tell them, how Han became the curmudgeonly man fans know and love.

To make him anything else might be seen as a betrayal.

Solo: A Star Wars Story’s Alden Ehrenreich, however, nailed the role – at least, according to the original Han, Harrison Ford.

Speaking to Movie Web, Solo’s director Ron Howard talked about how Ehrenreich approached the role.

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It was like starring in a biopic of a real person. Given the fervour with which fans love Han, that isn’t an exaggeration.

Howard went on to describe how, despite Harrison’s own curmudgeonliness, he was raving about it.

“[Harrison] said, ‘Alden nailed it. He made it his own,’” Howard added.

Young Han Solo bursts onto the screen with the same chutzpa you expect of original-trilogy Han.

But Solo: A Star Wars Story hints at Han’s eventual evolution not by anything he does or says outwardly, but by the things that happen to him.

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Solo: A Star Wars Story introduced us to Tobias Beckett, the man who teaches Han never to trust anybody.

Beckett and Han’s relationship in Solo: A Star Wars Story harkens back, or forward, to his relationship with Rey, particularly in the moment when Beckett hands Han his blaster.

Alden Ehrenreich’s take on Han is not a departure from the scruffy looking nerf herder, but instead a deeper layer of a man that once existed, and may have existed again if the events of The Force Awakens had gone in a different direction.

Alden Ehrenreich gets Han’s swagger, his cheek, his charisma, but most importantly, the glint of goodness beneath it all.

Solo: A Star Wars Story is in cinemas now.

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