50 Fun Facts About Han Solo

When Luke and Obi-Wan hire him in Star Wars (1977), how is Han making his living?

As a smuggler: he takes the charter because he is deep in debt, having dumped a crime lord's illegal cargo at the first sign of an Imperial patrol.

Who plays the young Han in Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)?

Alden Ehrenreich: Harrison Ford quietly gave him advice before the shoot and, after seeing the finished film, rang its director to say the younger man had nailed it.

At the end of The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader has Han frozen in a block of what?

Carbonite: Vader really wants to freeze Luke Skywalker, and uses Han to test the chamber first, so nobody present knows whether he will survive it.

In his third Star Wars draft, George Lucas described Han as a tough starpilot in the style of which screen idol?

James Dean: the 1975 draft called Han 'a tough James Dean style starpilot', a long way from the first draft, in which he was a green-skinned alien with gills.

Lucas at first resisted casting Ford as Han because they had already worked together on which film?

American Graffiti: wanting unknown faces, Lucas only brought Ford in to feed lines to the actors who were auditioning, and was won over while he did it.

In Star Wars (1977), Han is hired to fly Luke and Obi-Wan from Tatooine to which planet?

Alderaan: they drop out of hyperspace into a field of rubble, because the Death Star has already destroyed the planet, and the Falcon is hauled aboard the battle station.

Which bounty hunter corners Han in the Mos Eisley cantina?

Greedo: his alien speech is not pure gibberish but was modelled on Quechua, the language of the Incas, and performed for the film by a linguist.

What did the 1997 Special Edition change in Han's cantina shoot-out?

The bounty hunter fires first: Lucas said he never meant Han to be a cold-blooded killer, but fans objected so loudly that 'Han shot first' became a T-shirt slogan.

On Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back, Han keeps the freezing Luke alive overnight inside the body of which creature?

Tauntaun: when his own mount dies of cold, Han slices it open and stuffs his friend inside, grumbling that it smells even worse than it did on the outside.

Which word was the bounty hunter given to shout in the 2019 Disney+ edit of Han's cantina scene?

Maclunkey: the line appeared without warning when Disney+ launched in 2019, yet it was no Disney invention, since George Lucas had made the edit himself before selling Lucasfilm.

In The Empire Strikes Back, what does Han reply when Leia finally tells him she loves him?

I know: the script gave Han a longer, softer reply, and the famous two words came from Harrison Ford's own suggestion during filming.

Who plays Han's criminal mentor Tobias Beckett in Solo?

Woody Harrelson: Christian Bale had been in talks for the part before him, and it was Harrelson himself who let the character's name slip while the studio was still keeping it secret.

Beckett, Han's mentor in Solo, was based on which literary character?

Long John Silver: like the pirate of Treasure Island, he takes a young hero under his wing and then betrays him, a model the screenwriters openly acknowledged.

In Solo, who gives Han the surname "Solo"?

An Imperial recruiting officer: Han has no family name to give when he enlists, so the officer makes up 'Solo' on the spot because he is alone.

On which planet does Solo show the young Han growing up as an orphan?

Corellia: he grows up stealing for a gang boss in the back streets of the shipbuilding world, and gets away only by enlisting with the Empire.

Which Game of Thrones star plays Han's childhood love Qi'ra in Solo?

Emilia Clarke: her Qi'ra kills her own crime boss to save Han, then leaves him behind and flies off to report to the syndicate's true leader.

Who plays the young Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Star Wars Story?

Donald Glover: he copied the way Billy Dee Williams's Lando says 'Han', rhyming it with 'can' while nearly everyone else in the films says 'hon'.

How did Han finally take ownership of the Millennium Falcon from Lando?

He won it at sabacc: Lando had beaten him earlier with a card hidden up his sleeve, so before the rematch Han quietly lifted it.

Who plays L3-37, Lando's droid co-pilot, in Solo: A Star Wars Story?

Phoebe Waller-Bridge: her droid is fatally damaged during the heist, so the crew uploads her navigational data into the Falcon to guide them home.

Which directing duo was fired from Solo in June 2017 over "creative differences"?

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller: the 21 Jump Street pair's loose, improvising, comic style clashed with a studio and a writer who wanted the script shot as written.

Who took over as director of Solo midway through filming in 2017?

Ron Howard: brought in about four months into the shoot, he ended up reshooting some 70 per cent of the film and took the sole directing credit.

Under what working title did Solo begin filming at Pinewood in January 2017?

Red Cup: the title, first seen on a clapperboard the directors posted on day one, appears to be a joke on Solo, the American brand of red plastic party cup.

Solo reached cinemas only five months after which other Star Wars film?

The Last Jedi: Solo then grossed under $400 million against a budget of at least $250 million, and became the first Star Wars film to lose money for Disney.

Which composer wrote Han's new theme for Solo?

John Williams: the saga's own composer wrote only the theme, 'The Adventures of Han', and John Powell built the rest of the score around it.

In the 1978 Holiday Special, Han celebrates Life Day on which planet?

Kashyyyk: Han is racing to get his co-pilot home to his family for the Wookiee holiday, and has to outrun two Star Destroyers on the way.

After having Han frozen, Darth Vader hands him over to which bounty hunter?

Boba Fett: he flies the frozen Han to Jabba the Hutt to collect the price on his head, and the slab ends up hanging on the crime lord's wall as a trophy.

What rank does Han hold when he leads the strike team against the second Death Star?

General: the mercenary who once took his reward and tried to leave before the first Death Star battle now leads the ground assault that dooms its successor.

Han's strike team disables the shield generator on which forest moon?

Endor: the mission looks lost until the moon's small, furry Ewoks join the fight, and their help lets the Rebels bring the shield down in time.

Where is Han betrayed to the Empire in The Empire Strikes Back?

Cloud City: the old friend who runs the place hands him over under Imperial pressure, then changes sides and frees Leia and the others.

Who kills Han in The Force Awakens?

Kylo Ren: he is Han's own son, and seems ready to come home with him until he ignites his lightsaber and kills his father.

Where does Han die in The Force Awakens?

Starkiller Base: the First Order made it by turning an entire planet into a weapon, and Han's team lands there to switch off its shield so it can be destroyed.

What happened to Han in an early draft of The Force Awakens?

He survived and reconciled with Leia: the director felt that left Han tagging along 'like luggage', so the writers gave him an irreversible fate instead.

In The Force Awakens, which tentacled beasts break loose on Han's freighter when Rey and Finn first meet him?

Rathtars: Han has agreed to deliver three of the pack hunters to a collector, and when gangs he owes money board his ship, the escaped beasts cover his getaway.

Jabba the Hutt sentences Han, Luke and their Wookiee friend to be fed to which desert creature?

The Sarlacc: the pit monster is said to digest its victims over a thousand years, but a hidden lightsaber turns the execution into an escape.

Ford argued Han should die sacrificing himself in which film, only for Lucas to veto it?

Return of the Jedi: Ford thought the character thin and felt his death would give the story some weight; he got his wish 32 years later, in The Force Awakens.

How was Harrison Ford injured on the set of The Force Awakens in June 2014?

A hydraulic door fell on him: the Falcon set's metal door broke his leg, halted filming while he had surgery, and later cost the production company a fine of nearly $2 million.

Which woman is introduced as Han's wife in Marvel's 2015 comic series?

Sana Starros: she storms in calling herself Sana Solo, but the 'marriage' turns out to have been a sham the pair staged as part of a robbery.

In Star Wars Legends, what are the names of Han and Leia's twins?

Jaina and Jacen: both grow up to be Jedi, but in the later novels one twin falls to the dark side and the other is the one who has to stop him.

Which Sith name does Han's son take in the Legends series Legacy of the Force?

Darth Caedus: his fall plunges the galaxy into civil war, Han disowns him, and in the end it is his own sister who kills him.

Which precious hyperspace fuel are Han and Beckett's crew trying to steal throughout Solo?

Coaxium: the raw fuel they take from the mines is dangerously volatile and still has to be refined, and hauling it out is what calls for the fastest ship they can find.

The Falcon's shape was reportedly based loosely on which food?

A hamburger: as the story goes, the round hull was the burger and the cockpit stuck out on one side was the olive served next to it.

The Falcon was redesigned because its first look resembled ships from which TV series?

The original elongated model was rescaled and reused as Princess Leia's ship, the Tantive IV.

In The Force Awakens, to which old friend does Han take Rey, Finn and BB-8 for help?

Maz Kanata: Han hopes the old pirate will pass the droid on to the Resistance, but it is in her castle that Rey first finds Luke Skywalker's lightsaber.

In the non-canon comic Into the Great Unknown, who finds Han's skeleton aboard the Falcon?

Indiana Jones: Han crash-lands in the Pacific Northwest and is killed almost at once, and long afterwards the archaeologist stumbles on his bones in the wreck.

Which Star Wars character joins Han on the American Film Institute's list of greatest film heroes?

Obi-Wan Kenobi: jurors were asked for characters who had 'made a mark on American society', and they ranked the old mentor 37th and Han 14th while passing over the trilogy's hero.

Who is revealed as Dryden Vos's superior at the end of Solo?

Maul: the former Sith, apparently killed in The Phantom Menace, turns out to be alive and the true leader of the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate.

In Solo, which famous route does Han shorten by cutting straight through a deadly maelstrom?

The Kessel Run: the shortcut is the film's answer to Han's old boast of making it 'in less than twelve parsecs', a parsec being a measure of distance, not time.

In Solo, how does Han stop the captive Chewbacca from killing him in the pit?

He speaks Wookiee: Han's rough Shyriiwook convinces the prisoner that he is a friend, and the two fake a fight to bring down a pillar and escape together.

Who succeeded Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca in Solo?

Joonas Suotamo: the nearly seven-foot Finnish former basketball player first shared the suit as Peter Mayhew's double in The Force Awakens, then inherited the role outright.

Early drafts of Episode III had a ten-year-old Han helping Yoda find whom?

General Grievous: the boy was to hand Yoda a scrap of transmitter droid that could be traced to the cyborg's hideout, a scene that reached concept art before it was cut.