In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, writer Lawrence Kasdan – who actually co-wrote ‘The Force Awakens,’ ‘The Empire Strikes Back,‘ ‘Return of the Jedi‘ and now ‘Solo‘ – confirmed the incredible fact that before the Disney deal, he was already working on a Han Solo screenplay for Lucas. However, when the Disney purchase happened, he put the unfinished screenplay in the script and started to work on’The Force Awakens.’ Feeling burned out, the screenwriter enlisted his son Jon Kasdan to assist on ‘Solo’:
When I was done, I was sort of burned out. And I said, ‘I don’t know, do we still want to do this Han thing?’…And they said, ‘Yeah! We really want you to go ahead with Han.’ And I said, ‘Well, my son, Jon, is very enthusiastic and full of ideas about the saga.’ And he had directed two movies and had done other things. ‘What if he came on and worked with me? Because that would give me a shot in the arm.’ And so, that’s exactly what happened. They made a deal with Jon, and he and I have been writing since for three years.
“Solo: A Star Wars Story” opens on May 25th.