Young Han Solo Actor Is Confirmed, Star and Directors Discuss Star Wars Spinoff

While it has been rumoured for some time that Alden Ehrenreich will play the young Han Solo in the upcoming Star Wars spinoff, the news has now been confirmed. Ehrenreich made a surprise appearance at Star Wars Celebration this weekend, where he spoke about winning this much-coveted role.

As reported by Deadline, Ehrenreich told fans that he didn't have many expectations when he first auditioned. "When it first came along I knew everybody would be going out for it," he said. "I read the sides and loved them and thought, 'Who knows, but let me give it a shot.'"

The actor also revealed that the entire audition process took six months, and some of the screen tests were alongside Chewbacca on the set of the Millennium Falcon.

The Solo movie is to be directed by Chris Lord and Phil Miller, who previously made The Lego Movie and the Jump Street films. At Celebration, which took place in London, they revealed that they had auditioned around 3,000 actors before settling on Ehrenreich.

Lord also went on explain why he was so keen to take the movie on. "I relate to Han Solo," he said. "He doesn’t want to do anything he's told, when you tell him not to do something he wants to do it more. He's very sarcastic and at the end of the day he's reasonably optimistic.

"That's why we got so excited about making this movie: the dichotomy between this grouchy guy with the biggest heart in the galaxy."

The Han Solo movie has been written by Star Wars veteran Lawrence Kasdan and his son Jon, and is expected to begin production in early 2017. It is set for release on May 25, 2018.