Thanks to a confusing description from Disney CEO Bob Iger, there’s been a lot of confusion over Han Solo’s real name. It may not be Han Solo. Or it may be Han Solo. Or it may be that Han Solo has a mysterious middle name. We just don’t know. And when MTV tried to clear it up with Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, she instead made it even more confusing.
It began last month at some sort of dull business event at USC (here’s the full video), where Iger brought up the currently untitled Han Solo movie directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street):
“We’re actually shooting now an origin story of Han Solo, which will come out in 2018. That picks up with Han Solo when he was 18 years old and takes him through when he was 24. There are a few significant things that happen in Han Solo’s life, like acquiring a certain vehicle and meeting a certain Wookiee that will happen in this film. But you will also discover how he got his name.”
There’s probably an easy way to read this: Iger means name as in reputation. You will also discover how Han Solo earned his reputation. But the possibility of Han Solo not being Han Solo was too good to pass up and soon everyone was confused (or pretending to be for a better headline). Is Han Solo Han Solo?
That’s what MTV asked Kennedy in an interview posted Monday.
Kennedy’s response duplicates the same confusion as Iger’s:
“I’m not sure that’s entirely what Bob meant. There’s more to Han Solo’s name, but it’s not that it’s not his name. It’s obviously his name. It will always be his name.”
Wait, now there’s more to his name? Like… his real name is Han Solopolo? Again, the confusion goes away if you read her response idiomatically and assume that by name she means reputation. There’s more to Han Solo’s reputation. But that actually works worse here than it does with Iger’s answer!
Still, until the movie opens on Alden Ehrenreich (replacing Ford as Solo) as Hanzuul Assolo, let’s just assume all this muddle is confusion with the English language and not secret code indicating to forensically-inclined geeks that Han Solo will have a different name in his own movie.
Han Solo: A Star Wars Story , or whatever the Han Solo movie is eventually titled, will be out in theaters May 25, 2018.
