Han Solo Star Wars prequel to film in London

A standalone Star Wars film focussing on the fan-favourite character Han Solo will start filming in London from January next year.

Author: Nick Goundry

Published: 02 Jun 2016

A standalone Star Wars film focussing on the fan-favourite character Han Solo will start filming in London from January next year.

Harrison Ford played the famous smuggler in the original Star Wars trilogy in the late 70s and early 80s. He returned last year for The Force Awakens (pictured right), but the younger Han will be played by US actor Alden Ehrenreich.

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The new film will be a standalone story focussing on the adventures of the young Han before he met Luke Skywalker and joined the Rebel Alliance. Co-writer Lawrence Kasdan confirmed the filming location to the Atlanta Business Chronicle at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.

The Han Solo movie will be the fourth film in the new Star Wars franchise to use London as a production base. Rian Johnson is currently filming Episode VIII at Pinewood Studios and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – the first standalone movie – is undergoing reshoots this summer in preparation for its release in December.

Disney bought Star Wars production company Lucasfilm in 2012 for just over $4bn. The studio quickly announced plans for a new Star Wars trilogy, plus three additional films focussing on specific beloved characters.

So far all the new films have used London as a production base, taking advantage of the UK’s generous filming incentive support. Rogue One received a payment of £20m on UK spending of £105m.

Visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic – first set up by Star Wars creator George Lucas in the late 70s – established a London branch in late 2014 to help service the new films.

Superhero brand Marvel Studios is also owned by Disney but movies like the Captain America franchise and Guardians of the Galaxy have used the US city of Atlanta as a production base for the past few years, which has become one of America’s top production hubs.

For more on filming in the UK see our production guide.

Images: Lucasfilm

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