First Solo details from Entertainment Weekly

Solo gets its first Entertainment Weekly cover, and a handful of new images. Let the feeding frenzy begin! Here’s what we’ve learned:

→ The train-thing is called The Conveyex, and Han (with Chewie!) is indeed trying to steal something from it.

→ We still don’t have a last name for Qi-ra (Emilia Clarke) but she has known Han “longer than anyone.”

→ The droid L3-37 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) is Lando’s sidekick. Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and Val (Thandie Newton) are “career crooks,” while Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany) is a crime boss.

→ So much for my theory that the clean Millennium Falcon is a flashback scene – There’s a picture of Han on it with Beckett and Chewie.

Mimban confirmed, and it is… Muddy.

Coming up: Interviews with Alden Ehrenreich, Donald Glover and Clarke, more details about the Falcon.

First promo image of Solo leaks?

A promo image for Solo has emerged from the wilds of the internet, giving us our (presumed) first non-fuzzy look at Alden Ehrenreich’s Han Solo, Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian, whoever Emilia Clarke is playing and the Millennium Falcon’s new/old paint job. Lucasfilm has asked at least one site to take it down, so chances are it’s legit, though a Lucasfilm rep told /Film that they didn’t create it.

The images – one is an exact mirror of the other – appear to be sourced from a Russian PDF, because of course. /Film has a rough translation of the text.

Word on the street is we can expect official promotion for the film to start soon.

Han Solo and the Character Name Rumors

Making Star Wars has heard two names – both female – for the Han Solo standalone. One seems to be a puppet/voiced character (Phoebe Waller-Bridge, maybe?), while the other seems to be a major character with “top billing” – so likely Emilia Clarke, Thandie Newton. That said, the names could be set pseudonyms.

→ Speaking of Clarke, she told the Los Angeles Daily News that talking about the Han movie “even scarier” than doing so for Game of Thrones.

io9’s Evan Narcisse makes the case that Donald Glover’s funk album proves he has the mindset to make Lando Calrissian his own.

Star Wars News Net has heard that they might be filming for three weeks on Fuerteventura, one of the Canary Islands.

→ Disney has released the schedule for their D23 Expo in July. We hope to learn a bit more about the Han film (and likely The Last Jedi) at the live-action film panel on Saturday, July 15.

Principal photography begins on Han Solo standalone, release date is still May

StarWars.com has annouced that principal photography has begin on the Han Solo standalone, along with confirming rumored cast members Thandie Newton and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. It’s also the first time they’ve mentioned the release date in quite a while – and surprisingly, it’s still May 25, 2018.

If it does indeed remain May, this would be our first non-December release since Disney bought the franchise, and could signal a permanent move back to spring for Episode IX and beyond. The May release date will put Han just on the heels of Episode VII, The Last Jedi, which is out December 15, 2017.

The film stars Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo, Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian and Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca along with Woody Harrelson and Emilia Clarke. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are directing, from a script by Lawrence and Jon Kasdan.

Han Solo standalone begins filming

With a tweet from co-director Chris Miller captioned “Han shot first,” we learn that the Han Solo standalone has begun shooting. The slate says ‘Red Cup,’ the film’s shooting title. (Solo… Get it?)

The movie stars Alden Ehrenreich as Han and Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, plus Emilia Clarke and Woody Harrelson in yet-unknown roles. Posts like these from directors are usually followed by a StarWars.com announcement which may reveal further info (like, perhaps, a new release date?) so we’ll keep any eye out.