'Star Wars' Han Solo Spinoff in the Works With 'Lego Movie' Directors (Exclusive)
Shia LaBeouf as Han Solo?Now, in a paraphrasing of Darth Vader’s immortal words, a circle is about to be complete.
Miller and his partner Phil Lord, the duo behind The Lego Movie and the hit Jump Street films, are tackling one of the Star Wars anthology projects as their next directing vehicle, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.
The filmmaker team, who write, direct and produce, are stepping up to helm a movie that will focus on a young Han Solo, according to sources.
Lawrence Kasdan and Jon Kasdan are writing the script with the project, now set for a May 25, 2018, release.
The new film is not the same as the one that was to have been directed by Josh Trank. Trank parted ways with the project in May amid a cloud of issues stemming from his Fantastic Four shoot. That film, rumored to be an origin story of the intergalactic bounty hunter Boba Fett, is still searching for a director.
Disney and Lucasfilm had no comment.
Unclear is how their commitment to the Han Solo origin story will impact Lord and Miller’s schedule. The duo became a hot property following their witty take on the buddy cop genre with 21 Jump Street, and hotter still with 2014’s Lego Movie, which included a spectrum of geek icons from Batman to Star Wars.
They were to develop a Flash feature for Warners as a directing vehicle, but now that is likely off the table. As is a third Jump Street movie. However, they could stay on as writers or producers on those projects.
They were also developing an animated Spider-Man project for Sony, writing a treatment and producing, but since they were not intending to direct it, that could be less impacted.
The pair also would remain involved in the Lego franchise they helped launch.
July 7, 1:21 p.m. Updated with release date and screenwriter information.