‘Solo’ Star Alden Ehrenreich Discusses the Movie’s Improving Reputation Among Fans
Almost five years ago, Solo: A Star Wars Story arrived in theaters after a notoriously stormy production. As many fans already know, the film’s original directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, were fired mere weeks before the conclusion of principal photography. Ron Howard was hired to finish the film, and he conducted an extensive amount of reshoots to overhaul the movie’s tone.
Sadly, the spinoff film didn’t find much success during its theatrical release. Thanks to its inflated budget (as a result of the reshoots), a competitive release window, and a generally poor marketing campaign, Solo became the first Star Wars film to bomb at the box office. The movie did get fairly positive reviews from critics overall, but that didn’t do much to alter the perception that Solo underwhelmed audiences and represented a misstep for the franchise.
However, it’s worth mentioning that Solo does have its supporters amongst the Star Wars fanbase. Most notably, the movie’s admirers launched the #MakeSolo2Happen social media campaign to show Lucasfilm that at least some interest exists for a potential sequel, even if there seems to be little curiosity in such a project on the studio’s side of things.
Now, Alden Ehrenreich, who played the title character in the spinoff film, has spoken about how the movie’s reputation has changed over time. Ehrenreich recently chatted with Yahoo Entertainment about his new film, Cocaine Bear, and the interviewer asked the actor for his thoughts on fans’ changing perceptions of Solo.
Ehrenreich, who was sitting alongside Cocaine Bear co-star and fellow Star Wars alum O’Shea Jackson Jr. (Obi-Wan Kenobi series), had this to say:
“I have. I mean, you definitely have those kind of things happening on the Internet over the last few years. And it feels like a shift… It’s also always kind of felt like that to me on the ground. I feel like there was a lot of, like, other stuff. Like, sort of more press stuff, but the actual feedback that I always got from it was really great… I just love talking to a kid who saw it — some little boy or little girl — who’s so excited. That’s the best, you know?”
Joonas Suotamo is Chewbacca, Woody Harrelson is Beckett and Alden Ehrenreich is Han Solo
Ehrenreich certainly makes a good point with his remarks here. When one discusses a series with a fanbase that’s as massive and varied as the Star Wars fandom, it’s important to remember that every story set in that universe has its fans. Even the prequel trilogy, which for a number of years seemed to encounter near-unanimous backlash from large chunks of the fanbase, now has vocal defenders of its own.
The interviewer also asked Ehrenreich what it was like to work on another project with Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Based on Ehrenreich’s response, it seems like Lord and Miller, who were producers on Cocaine Bear, were happy to have him back aboard:
“We went out and got dinner when I was talking about it originally. And it was great. I knew they were coming to set [but] I didn’t know when… I did my first scene in the movie, which is also [chronologically] my first scene in the movie. And as soon as they yelled, ‘Cut’, I went outside and they were standing there and had been watching it [on the monitors]. I didn’t even know they were there. So it was really great to be on set with them after those few years.”
O’Shea Jackson Jr. also took a moment near the end of the discussion to humorously contribute his thoughts on Solo:
“I ain’t seen it because they ain’t picked me!”
Jackson was in the running to play Lando in the movie, but Donald Glover was cast in the role instead. Jackson would later get the chance to join the Star Wars franchise in last year’s Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries.
Even though Solo may not have gotten the reception that the cast, crew, and studio hoped for upon its release, it’s nice to know that some fans have always enjoyed it and others have come around to it over the last half-decade. And who knows? Even if Ehrenreich never gets the chance to return as Han in a sequel to the film, we might see more of his version of Han in another medium. Qi’ra sure has been getting a lot of stuff to do in Marvel’s recent comics, after all.
For the full interview with Alden Ehrenreich and Jackson, you can watch their interview with Yahoo’s Kevin Polowy below:
Alden Ehrenreich says yes, he's noticed Solo: A Star Wars Story getting more fan love recently.
"You definitely have those things happening on the internet over the last few years. And it feels like a shift."
He also talks about reuniting with Lord & Miller on Cocaine Bear. pic.twitter.com/aekQpPtAqe
— Kevin Polowy (@djkevlar) February 15, 2023
Eric has been a fan of Star Wars ever since the age of five (or so) when his parents sat him down in front of a TV with pizza and a Sprite and showed him the original trilogy. He keeps trying to convince more fans to read the amazing 1980s Star Wars newspaper comics by Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson. When he's not reading, watching or playing Star Wars media, he's often enjoying other great fantasy and science fiction sagas or playing roleplaying games with his friends.
