Han Solo's Star Wars return in The Force Awakens could've looked quite different
The beloved smuggler might have been introduced drinking with two aliens in a cantina.
Back in 2015, the return of Harrison Ford as Han Solo was one of the most exciting aspects of The Force Awakens - and Star Wars has revealed that the character almost returned in different circumstances.
Han's first scene in the film was a shot of him walking into the iconic Millennium Falcon alongside his beloved companion Chewbacca.
But according to art director Christian Alzmann, the original plan was for us to meet the character drinking with two aliens in a cantina, a throwback to his first scene in A New Hope.
Alzmann shared an image of what the scene would have looked like on his Instagram page, and wrote, "Early concept for how we might have met Han in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Out-drinking everyone at a cantina."
And if the response on Instagram was anything to go by, it seems fans enjoyed the look at the alternative possibility.
One fan commented, "I didn't know this existed, it's rad! I've been bothering my friends with my desire to have had Han be a broken-down drunk, being taken care of by Lando and/or Chewbacca in the beginning of The Force Awakens."
The scene certainly wouldn't have been out of character for the maverick smuggler, and would have been a neat reference to the original trilogy, but all things considered Han got a pretty good re-introduction as it was.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CC1KKMJjON8/
Alzmann had previously shared a glimpse at what Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker might alternatively have looked like in the film, with the Jedi Master apparently originally set to have resembled a "Col. Kurtz type hiding from the world in a cave".
Of course, Hamill appears only briefly at the end of The Force Awakens, teasing The Last Jedi in which he played a far more prominent role.
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.