Decoding ‘Solo’s biggest reveals (Yep, spoilers)
SPOILER ALERT! We’re discussing plot points integral to the conclusion of Solo: A Star Wars Story, so beware if you haven’t seen it yet.
Solo: A Star Wars Story might be labeled a spinoff, but come on, there’s enough intriguing stuff that happens to start a whole new Star Wars trilogy.
The 10th Star Wars movie introduces Alden Ehrenreich as a young Han Solo who embarks on a career of smuggling and stealing with new pals such as Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) and Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) — though Han and Lando still need to work out some kinks in their friendship. Solo features classic moments in Star Wars lore (we finally see the Kessel Run!), hints at a gangster on Tatooine looking for a few “good” men (What’s up, Jabba?!) but also features the return of a character that’s completely unexpected, among some other reveals that need to be discussed.
Han Solo isn’t his real name.
Everybody kind of assumed as much, but at least there’s still some mystery in terms of his background. The opening revealed Solo’s early days as an orphan on Corellia, leading to him and lovebird Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke) trying to escape the clutches of weird caterpillar-y alien slaver Lady Proxi- ma. In a desperate gambit to leave their home world, Qi’ra gets captured and, in a bit of quick thinking to avoid the Stormtroopers looking for him, Han heads to an Imperial recruitment center (complete with a major-key version of the iconic Imperial March). The officer asks Han for his family name, but when Han says he doesn’t have one, the dude calls him “Han Solo” since he’s alone, thus spawning a legend. (Wouldn’t it be cool, though, if it turns out Han was originally a Ren?)
Han and Chewie’s first meeting gets a little testy.
Han isn’t the greatest Imperial soldier, and after getting in trouble with his superiors, he’s tossed in a large cell housing some sort of noisy beast. There are shades of Luke Skywalker getting jailed and staring down the Rancor in Return of the Jedi, but Han’s monster is a furry one. Chewbacca emerges from the shadows and lunges at Han, until our hero uses some Shyriiwook (aka the primary Wookiee language) to communicate with his new best friend and they break out of their muddy holdings.
Han’s girlfriend is a femme fatale.
Three years after Han desperately vows to one day return to Corellia and save Qi’ra, he runs into her on the space yacht of intergalactic gangster Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany). It turns out she’s his lieutenant in the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate, and following their reconnection and a bunch of double-crossing within Han’s crew, Qi’ra kills her boss and takes over his position of power instead of going with Han. It sets up her eventual return (alongside an old Star Wars player we’ll get to in a minute) as a complicating figure for Han if there are more Solo movies to be had.
Enter a surprise new heroine.
Enfys Nest (played by newcomer Erin Kellyman) is introduced as a mysterious pirate with a gang of marauders who are Han and Co.’s main rivals in trying to steal a bunch of valuable coaxium. But she takes off her mask in a confrontation with the crew and reveals that she and her gang are freedom fighters working against Crimson Dawn. Enfys and Han end up working together and she speaks of rebellion, sowing the seeds for a possible return down the line — perhaps as a formidable new foe for the punishing Empire.
As Qi’ra tells Han at one point, everybody works for somebody, and after she offs Dryden, Qi’ra checks in via hologram with a mysterious main man we’ve seen before: the former Sith lord with the oh-so-sweet double lightsaber. For those wondering how Maul managed to survive literally getting sliced in half (see: The Phantom Men- ace), go back and check out the Star Wars cartoons The Clone Wars (in which he returns with metal legs) and the more recent Rebels. Maul is apparently ensconced in a whole different sort of dark side — maybe he knows Jabba the Hutt and Boba Fett, too! (Fun fact: Maul in Solo is played by Menace actor Ray Park onscreen but is voiced by Sam Witwer, who plays the character in the animated Rebels series.)
Lando is a big ol’ cheater.
Shocker! Everybody’s known for a while that Han won the Millennium Falcon off Lando playing the card game Sabacc. What is revealed in Solo is the first time wasn’t the charm: Lando is a notorious gambler for good reason, hiding cards in a device up his sleeve to win their first faceoff. The end of Solo, however, showcases the return match: Han and Chewie seek out Lando (after he left them in dire straits), Han surreptitiously disarms Lando’s cheat gadget, and much to Lando’s chagrin, Han and Chewie fly off in their newly won (and quite spiffy) space freighter.