Han Solo will definitely go down in history as one of the most loved fictional characters of all time. The charismatic character first appeared in the first Star Wars movie, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. The smuggler-turned-rebel was portrayed by the legendary actor, Harrison Ford in the franchise and Ford captivated the fans with his charisma in the very first movie of the series.
Although Han Solo was an integral part of the franchise, Harrison Ford did not want to portray him right after the first movie. The actor even asked George Lucas, the director of the movie to kill off the fan-favorite character.
Harrison Ford wanted George Lucas to kill off Han Solo right after the first Star Wars movie
Although Han Solo eventually died in Episode VII: The Force Awakens movie which came back in 2015, Harrison Ford did not plan on playing the character for so long. In fact, Ford wanted George Lucas, the director of the movie to kill off the fan-favorite character right after the first Star Wars movie.
Harrison Ford even talked about it in an interview and he even explained why he thought that Han Solo should’ve been killed off right after the first movie. He said,
“I thought Han Solo should die. I thought he ought to sacrifice himself for the other two characters[Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa]. I said,’ He’s got no mama, he’s got no papa, he’s got no future. He has no story responsibilities at this point so let’s allow him to commit self-sacrifice.'”
However, George Lucas was absolutely against the killing of Han Solo as he felt that the character was definitely relevant to the plot.
Even Lawrence Kasdan, the co-writer of Empire Strikes Back wanted to kill off Han Solo early in the Star Wars series
Once in an interview Lawrence Kasdan, the co-writer of Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi movies revealed that even he wanted to kill off Han Solo early in the Star Wars franchise. Kasdan said,
“I also felt like someone had to die like someone had to go. I thought it should happen very early in the last act so that you would begin to worry about everybody. We should sacrifice somebody. But George[Lucas] was against it. George knew what he wanted and got what he wanted.”
In other words, had it not been for George Lucas, there is a good chance that Harrison Ford would have managed to convince the writers to kill off the fan-favorite character right after the first Star Wars movie.
Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope is currently streaming on Disney+.
Source: YouTube
