Disney Dropped the Ball on Han Solo’s Origin Story

I know I’m not the only one harping about the fact that Disney took a look at the Legends canon and shook their collective head. When it comes to certain characters though, it’s a certain shame that they didn’t think that any of the novels, comics, or storylines that had been developed would work, since their replacement for such storylines hasn’t panned out with the fans to be fair. Granted, Disney has made a ton of money from Star Wars, as it’s a franchise that people aren’t willing to let go of no matter how badly the Mouse House mangles it. Several fans have even decided to defend the franchise at this moment, and rightfully so since there’s always more than one way to look at a story. But there’s no other way to say it: Disney has taken Star Wars and treated it in a very shabby manner, as taking bits and pieces from the Legends canon, while trying to make things look as original as possible, has been the common practice. One can only wonder what will happen when the High Republic stories start rolling out. 

Han Solo’s story could have easily spanned a trilogy and gone even further since the smuggler has been on a few adventures that Disney apparently didn’t think were worth mentioning, and at least a few of those have involved Lando, which would have been nice to see. But the need to change things up in such a massive way hasn’t been keeping the fans happy enough to convince them that supporting another attempt would be a good idea. The fact is that Legends has far more stories that are far more entertaining than the movies that Disney has thrown at the fans. I know, I know, the box office numbers would say otherwise, but keeping in mind the fact that getting people excited to see a movie is going to bump up the numbers is kind of a common issue when claiming that a movie is a hit. Keep in mind how many people went online and on social media to rip Disney a new one as they described everything they thought was wrong with the new sequels. 

Han Solo has a rich background in the Legends canon, it simply needs to be said. Apart from being an orphan raised by a female Wookie, he’s been a natural at piloting, he’s been the type of guy that has had to fight to survive, and he’s been the type of character that has needed to watch his back at every turn. He’s also had a homeworld on the planet Corellia where he came from, and a devious cousin as well as many interactions along the way with individuals that either hated him, liked him, or both. His history with Lando Calrissian is a lot more complex than the Solo movie went into, even though they’d just met in the movie. In short, there’s a lot more that Disney could have done with Han Solo, but wasting him on a single story that saw him messing about with Crimson Dawn and being a part of a criminal hive that was run by one of the strangest creatures around didn’t do this story any justice. 

The brief stint he experienced when enlisting as an Imperial didn’t really line up with what was heard in the original trilogy either since the switch from being assigned to a star cruiser to being a grunt on the ground wasn’t a move forward. His shift to smuggling wasn’t too bad, but it was a less than exciting move that didn’t do much except place him and Chewbacca on the same path, which was one of the strongest elements in the movie since if anything had been done to alter that bond it feels as though people might have had plenty to say. But quite a few of the changes that had nothing to do with the Legends canon were the type of story ideas that one has to wonder about since allowing Star Wars to take on various elements of the real world is all well and good, but there is time and place for everything. Still, it was kind of interesting in its own way. 

What’s really frustrating though is that even with Ron Howard at the helm, this movie still ended up being one of the worst in the Star Wars franchise, and that’s being kind. In my estimation, every Star Wars movie falls under the ‘like’ category, since being such a big Star Wars fan, it’s too tough to say anything worse when being asked if the movies were good or bad. Solo had its good points, but they were overwhelmed by the idea that the writers either didn’t know enough about the character, or Disney was adamant about being ‘original’.