Leaks from the set of the next Star Wars Story , an untitled Han Solo adventure, have given us not just a look at some of the locations, but also a handful of character names, including: Val, Mother Proxima, Dryden Vos, Rebolt, Moloch and the aptly named “Moloch’s Henchman.” Some have actors attached, some are complete mysteries. One or two might even be a complete Constable Zuvio. For all the fretting over whether or not a Star Wars set leak is accurate, it’s easy to forget the even bigger way in which they’re unreliable.
Like with most Star Wars leaks, the Han Solo movie character names were passed to Making Star Wars. And as has been the case with so many previous leaks, they’re essentially contextless — just random nouns, retrieved floating about a set or from snippets of unseen script.
Similar leaks in the run-up the Star Wars: The Force Awakens uncovered all sorts of character names and data points. But if you only have the name “Unkar Plutt” and the name “Kylo Ren” what’s really being learned? One is a throwaway character (if he could Plutt could be said to have a story arc, its conclusion didn’t make the cut), the other essential to the entire Star Wars Sequel Trilogy.
Name leaks can distort an advanced understanding of a movie more than they enlighten. Just look at Constable Zuvio, a character who popped in early product leaks. Zuvio was a major part of Force Awakens speculation, often mentioned as the same breath as General Hux, Captain Phasma and other secondary characters.
But Zuvio never even appears in The Force Awakens. And unless Disney is sitting on the footage for some reason, Zuvio was such a minor character he didn’t even make it into deleted scenes. In this case, data points left us knowing less, not more, about The Force Awakens.
Some of the leaked Han Solo movie character names will be more prominent than Zuvio. Val, for one, is rumored to be one of the main characters played by either Emilia Clarke, Phoebe Waller-Bridge or Thandie Newton.
Mother Proxima is a puppet of some sort, which gives us no indication of her prominence. Some of the rest even have actors affiliated with the name, though it doesn’t offer much more clarity. Rebolt is played by Ian Kenny who, coming off the critically acclaimed Sing Street , probably has something more than an incidental role. But Harley Durst is a stuntman and Tien Hoang is unlikely to be a familiar face, so it’s impossible to say whether Moloch is a major or minor part of the Han Solo movie. Moloch and his man could be have a small a role as Tasu Leech and his Kanjiklub did in The Force Awakens (what a sad waste of The Raid fight team). Or maybe Moloch won’t make the cut at all.
Would it be the worst thing if, operating on incomplete data, we are left with a misconceived idea of the movie? One of the arguments long ago ceded to the hunger of fans and the pursuit of their clicks is whether or not leaks should be reported at all. To paraphrase Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park, we were so preoccupied with whether or not we could, we didn’t stop to think if we should. There’s certainly nothing newsworthy in them. And there’s no compelling reason to hoard details before seeing the movie, other than the minutest stimulation and the feeling of knowing slightly more than the person sitting next to you. Maybe we should hope all of these are Constable Zuvios and come the Han Solo movie’s May 25, 2018 release date, we’ll all have some genuine surprises.
