We’re still buzzing after the season one finale of Tony Gilroy’s fantastic “Star Wars” series “Andor,” a prequel taking place before the events of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” One of the more well-written and executed modern “Star Wars” projects that showed that there were still some untapped places that creatives could explore within the universe that feel fresh and exciting. One has to wonder, given its potential, whether Lucasfilm circles back to “Solo: A Star Wars Story” in a similar way. More ‘Solo’ remains to be seen, but the film’s co-writer, Jonathan Kasdan, is still hopeful that he might be able to play with these characters again one day.
Kasdan is behind the sequel series “Willow” that is now airing on Disney+ and is doing the press rounds to promote the series. During a chat with The Hollywood Reporter, Kasdan mentioned a few things he’d like to explore, like the Qi’ra and Han relationship, along with retconning one item from the film that irks him.
“As the years have gone by and there has been more ‘Star Wars,’ my enthusiasm for doing more ‘Solo’ has waned only because there’s so much great ‘Star Wars’ out there right now,” he explained. “But the thing that I would love to revisit is the relationship between the two of them because there’s so much fun and complexity to be found in the relationship between Han and Qi’ra.”
When asked if the writer was optimistic about Disney+ becoming a path for Qi’ra’s return Kasdan said that Marvel’s “Werewolf By Night” could be a way Lucasfilm could explore live-action “Star Wars” without having to do a whole series by embracing short-form storytelling, possibly via a unique presentation format that Marvel Studios has adopted.
“I don’t honestly know. I’m always afraid to ask Kathy [Kennedy] because she can see right through me,” he admitted. “Despite all my resistance, she instantly sees right through me, and she can see my desire to tell more stories there. But in recent months, I have been intrigued by the wonderful ‘Werewolf By Night’ as a potential form of storytelling on Disney+. So, I would love to see Lucasfilm embrace a short-form novella version for telling some of their stories. That certainly seems like a place where future stories about those characters could live.”
Additionally, Kasdan brought up one thing from “Solo,” which bothered him enough that he is hopeful that he’ll be able to “retcon” sometime in the future if he’s lucky enough to tackle these characters again.
“I’ll tell you the biggest problem that has always haunted me about ‘Solo,’” Kasdan said of the main problem with the film he’d like to fix. “I’m going to reveal the writer’s nightmare right now. If Dryden Vos [Paul Bettany] is so concerned about exposing his gang in the [Kessel] heist, why does he send his most trusted aid [Qi’ra] to be the most visible member of the team that steals the coaxium? It seems to me that he’s going to have to kill her almost immediately just to separate himself from that job. So it always drove me crazy, and it was a problem that I was eager to retcon in a sequel.”
There are certainly gaps they could explore, such as Qi’ra’s time before her reunion with Han or what happens to her after the events of the film, such as dealing with the gangster incarnation of Darth Maul.
In the past, there had been online chatter that Qi’ra actress Emilia Clarke could be involved in the previously announced “Lando” series, but the actress denied it. Director also Ron Howard debunked a rumbling that a sequel to “Solo” was in the works. We’re still waiting to learn if “Lando” is still even happening as the show’s creator Justin Simien (“Dear White People”), went off to make Disney’s “Haunted Mansion” reboot and has other TV commitments scheduled after that. While “Solo” actors might be keen to return, it all comes down to what Lucasfilm ultimately wants to do with them. Then again, it’s not like Clarke isn’t already doing things on Disney+, as the actress is part of the cast of Marvel’s “Secret Invasion” series, where she plays a S.W.O.R.D. agent. So, you never know if we’ll see Qi’ra again, but to the original point, it’s not a perfect film, but ‘Solo’ had potential, and Qi’ra feels like the most viable and exciting character to try and continue exploring. Fingers crossed for one day.