Thomas Storai 
Thomas casts his trained eye over the incredible teaser trailer for the Han Solo anthology movie….
At last…we finally had our first look at Solo: A Star Wars Story this week with the first teaser trailer (along with a TV spot during Super Bowl) and the fans are loving it! The teaser revealed just the right amount of details about the movie to get us excited and there’s plenty to talk about until the next trailer and until the movie itself is released in 3 months! So now let’s take a look at what’s going on in this teaser trailer!
It opened with Han Solo inside the cockpit of the Millenium Falcon, starting up the engines. What’s so great about this little sequence is we didn’t see his face, just his hands but you know it’s him and you know it’s the iconic ship because you can clearly recognize the famous cockpit. It was a fitting start for a trailer about a movie focused on Han Solo.
The next sequence showed us an intense speeder chase on a new planet. Could it be Corellia? If it is, I like the look of it – an industrial planet with water, it’s a mix we haven’t quite seen in Star Wars movies before. In these shots, we were introduced to Alden Ehrenreich who is playing the young Han Solo. What I immediately loved about him is he has given his own touch, his own twist to the character instead of just trying to copy Harrison Ford and that in my opinion is the best way to portray a young Han Solo.
In terms of costume design and hair style, they gave him something that feels like it’s Han or like it’s something Han would wear in his younger years. We also briefly saw Qi’Ra aboard Han’s speeder. Qi’Ra is the character played by Emilia Clarke. From the look of it, it seems that the two are friends. The speeder chase presented us with some brand new vehicles and they all looked like quintessential Star Wars vehicles to me which is a good thing. Among the speeders, there was a new Imperial speeder with a new trooper. We saw him just for a few seconds but I liked how it was in the same style of the Rogue One troopers.
“I’m gonna be a pilot, the best in the galaxy.“
There will be a new snowy planet in Solo! There are several snow planets in Star Wars universe now and yet, they have found a way for each planet to look different and feel like it’s the same place with just minor tweaks. The shot of the clouds and the sun was breathtaking and the image with Han on the snow planet was also quite impressive. A visual treat for the senses. He is wearing a cold weather fur coat, one that would definitely keep him warm and is a change from the usual military snow gear!
During the first two sequences, we got to hear Alden’s voice as well as some brand new dialogue for Han Solo. It sounded perfectly in tune with the character!
We all know the Millenium Falcon used to belong to Lando Calrissian, and that Lando is a man of taste so it was with no surprise that we would see a different version of the Falcon in this movie. It’s something that fits the character’s aesthetic.
One of my favorite shots was Han looking at the Millenium Falcon on that fog covered planet. Considering the color palette, I would suspect this was Kessel. Seeing, Han had the fur coat, this could take place just after the sequences on the snowy planet, at least that’s just a guess.
“Hey kid! I’m putting together a crew, you’re in?”
We were then introduced to another brand new environment – a sandy area with an ocean peninsula and some sort of structure along the shore. I’m hesitating between saying this is a new planet or saying that it’s the same planet we saw at the beginning of the teaser because of the water. Both are likely possibilities. In this sequence, we were introduced to Tobias Beckett – the character played by Woody Harrelson! He definitely had the look of a smuggler and I think if Woody had to be a in Star Wars movie, it definitely was the right movie!
From what we saw in the teaser, he seemed to be the one recruiting Han for some kind of smuggling mission, the details of the mission are unknown but Tobias has gathered quite a crew – Han, Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian and newcomers Qi’Ra, Val, L3-37 plus an alien. This sequence of the trailer was my favorite because we were introduced to these characters, giving us a good look at who we’ll be seeing a lot in the movie.
The shot of Qi’Ra was just wonderful, like Ben Mendelsohn said while promoting Rogue One “the cape makes all the difference!” Val played by Thandie Newton (from Westworld) is one character I’m really intrigued about! The new alien looks like a new space monkey and I love it!
And Lando, it took just one shot to Donald Glover to say it all, THIS IS YOUNG LANDO – the attitude, the smile, the costume! And in that shot, I think Lando could either be playing some kind of game and he was winning or this could be in the middle of a conversation.
Another shot of Han took place in the same room as the shot of Lando, the lighting is very similar. And in that shot, you can spot a familiar Star Wars species – a Gran! We hadn’t seen them in a long time!
The trailer then sent us back to the snow planet with Han, Tobias and Chewbacca with Chewie saying yes to something. It’s edited in a way to make us believe it’s yes to Tobias’ question but you know it’s not as the scenes take place on different planets.
The next shot was Lando and L3-37 (played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge) piloting the Falcon, you can see that the droid was acting as Lando’s co-pilot. Speaking of L3-37, if you look at her arm, it’s a piece of an R2 unit!
Gran aren’t the only species making a return to the Star Wars universe, Twil’ek’s are too (they also made an appearance in Rogue One). You could spot one wandering through the cantina sequence.
Back on the sand covered planet, we were treated to an epic Western style image of Han Solo ready to draw his blaster whilst facing a tribe of hostile, unfriendly primitives. The leader was badass-looking! If you freeze the image and take a closer look you can see a piece of a Mandalorian armor attached to his leg. And for the helmet, you can see there’s actually two helmets – one that is similar to a Mandalorian visor and on it a more tribal helmet. Could this character be a Mandalorian?
Another interesting shot that if you blink you might miss was a character in disguise and opening fire on unknown opponents. This character was wearing a certain disguised that is familiar – Lando’s disguise in Jabba’s palace during the opening of Return of the Jedi! Could it be Lando again in this shot? That’d be pretty cool!
The next shot appeared to reveal L3-37 in the same environment as that mysterious character. It looks like the interior of a building that the team of smugglers has attacked. So it’s probably an action packed scene!
On the snow planet, we saw some action with a big ship heading toward some kind of huge crate pulled by four speeders and then evading the explosion of that mountain. The trailer was edited in a way that makes us believe Han was piloting the ship, which is likely but I wouldn’t be surprised if in fact, he wasn’t and Han and his comrades were piloting the speeders. That crate seemed to be a wagon from the train we saw in the Super Bowl TV Spot.
“I might be the only person who knows what you really are.”
The trailer suggested there’ll be some kind of tension between Han and Qi’Ra with that quote. The moment when she said “what you really are” and Han answered “what’s that” was on the sandy planet in one of the tents of that tribe, pay attention to the little details in the background and you’ll see.
The final part of the trailer took place in a huge storm, I’m not sure if it was on a planet or in space, who knows it could even be part of the Kessel Run? but, one thing is certain…that sequence was pretty cool! Visually it was breathtaking! And the Empire has a new toy – a new Tie Fighter with heavy cannons.
We got to see Han and Chewie, piloting the Millennium Falcon and Han being his usual self, which was a lot of fun! And that shot of Lando screaming was priceless!
While trying to escape the Empire, the Falcon also had to face a creature with HUGE tentacles, I’m really excited about this sequence! It also gave us a better look at the outside of the Falcon during that time period.
I like the blue decals on it and I liked that it looked different from the Falcon we know and love because it means that Han made plenty of changes after he acquired it, he made it to his liking.
Flight of the Falcon
With that epic teaser trailer, now are you excited for Solo A Star Wars Story?
Collectables Editor at Future Of The Force.
Star Wars and Marvel specialist, anime expert
