Something that hit me today is this whole movie is essentially a giant “Han shot last”. Everyone freaked out at changing Han in ANH from shooting first because it changed his character from a ruthless scoundrel selfish smuggler who has no problem killing who made friends and turned out to be a hero in the end to somebody who was “always good” and would never shoot first, or at least without provocation. This movie will unavoidably portray Han in a heroic light (because that’s what Star Wars is) which completely undermines his OT arc worse than shooting last did in the SE.
I had similar reservations at first, but I really don’t buy that Han was a horrible person pre-OT anyway.
Law breaker? Yeah.
Drug smuggler? Yeah.
Arrogant? Yeah.
Kill rather than be killed? Yeah.
“No problem with killing”? No, he’s not a murderer and I don’t believe he’s the kinda guy who kills without reason.
I have friends who fit this description. And while they aren’t involved in shootouts on the reg, I assure you they (and me) would rather shoot than be shot and wouldn’t wait for the gun pointed at them to go off before pulling the trigger. (again, it’s not a situation we find ourselves in, but I don’t have to wonder what would happen.)Even with all that said, I just doubt anybody could play the character and make me believe it’s Han. He’s my favorite character to ever appear in anything. If not for Han, I’d never have gotten into StarWars. I’m willing to give it a chance though.
I thought Perry King was pretty good as Han in the OT radio drama adaptations.