Star Wars: Rogue One won't have a Han Solo cameo after all

Ever since its announcement, fans speculated that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story would feature a cameo from a young Han Solo. That suspicion was reinforced when it was reported in June that reshoots were being made to give screen time to "a very important character". Well, sorry to crush your new hope, but Han Solo is definitely going to be absent from this year's Star Wars movie.

"I’m not sure if I’m allowed to do this, but I think I should… I can put to bed, Han Solo is not in the movie," director Gareth Edwards recently told Extra. LucasFilm President Kathleen Kennedy said the same, while also dismissing rumors that Hayden Christensen would make an appearance.

I understand why people thought a young version of the lovable smuggler would show up, of course. Alden Ehrenreich had just been cast as a young Han Solo when news of the Rogue One reshoots hit the web, and Rogue One's place in the Star Wars timeline (it takes place before A New Hope) means that a Han Solo cameo would make logical sense. Alas, tis not to be.

If you just can't get enough of everyone's favorite scruffy-lookin' nerfherder, you'll have to wait until 2018, when Han Solo gets his own movie.

Directed by Gareth Edwards and starring Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Ben Mendelsohn, Forest Whitaker, and Alan Tudyk, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is scheduled to open in UK and US cinemas on December 16, 2016. 

Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the Han Solo standalone movie is scheduled to open on May 25, 2018. 

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Images: LucasFilm

Sam Prell

Sam is a former News Editor here at GamesRadar. His expert words have appeared on many of the web's well-known gaming sites, including Joystiq, Penny Arcade, Destructoid, and G4 Media, among others. Sam has a serious soft spot for MOBAs, MMOs, and emo music. Forever a farm boy, forever a '90s kid.