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THE HAN SOLO TRILOGY: THE CANON CUT is a fanedit combining the novels The Han Solo Trilogy 1: The Paradise Snare (a Legends novel) and the Solo novelization into one long story about Han Solo’s origins and the people surrounding him. VERSION 1.0 is out now.
As someone who adores the EU Han Solo Trilogy, I was incredibly excited to watch the canon film. I was disappointed. The late AC Crispin’s iconic trilogy had the feeling of a Dickensian epic. It spanned decades and told Han’s story from his time as a streetrat up until the moment he sits down in front of Luke Skywalker and Ben Kenobi in that famous cantina. More importantly, it had a real grit and weight to it, combining tragedy and adventure and love in a way reminiscent of a 70s American New Wave movie. In contrast, Solo felt like a filmed Wookiepeedia article. It wasn’t terrible but in trying to simultaneously be a fun caper and a epic origin story, Solo made it feel like everything remotely important to Han Solo as a individual and as a icon happened in one week. He meets Chewie, meets Lando and the Falcon, flies the Kessel Run, gets the Falcon, and becomes a fully formed character on one heist.
I got the idea for this edit when rereading The Paradise Snare. In one scene, Han’s romantic interest, Bria Tharen, remarks that Han is a good man at heart. I noticed that there was an almost identical scene in Solo, except with Qi’ra saying it instead. Key spoilerish moments in both novels (that will be discussed in the spoiler filled changelist) subtly and overtly call back to this “good man” line. When putting both novels together, I felt that there was a very compelling narrative that could be brought out. I didn’t have to add any key story beats. There was a beautiful story hidden beneath the continuity conflicts of novels set in two timelines. My job was to emphasize what was already there and smooth over these contradictions. This was done in a few key ways. Main changes are listed below. Story spoilers have been tagged. If you haven’t read Paradise Snare, I highly recommend not looking at those!
- Han doesn’t join the Empire right after leaving Corellia, as seen in the film. Instead, he boards a trader ship which leads into the start of the EU Han Solo Trilogy where Han has lived on a trader ship his whole life. This is changed to one year in this edit. He joins the Empire at the end of Paradise Snare (as originally present in the novel), leading to the events of the canon Solo novel.
- Han’s relationship and desire to get back to Qi’ra is referenced throughout The Paradise Snare. This is where most of the text additions came in. There are no new scenes, but many conversations have been extended to naturally include Qi’ra into this plot. Both this and the references to Bria in Solo have intentionally been added to form a mirrored arc and I’m very happy with how it has turned out.
- Bria’s relationship with Han is referenced throughout Solo.
SPOILERS FOR THE PARADISE SNARE AND SOLO
- Bria’s sacrificial death is moved up from the third Han Solo book (which isn’t canon compatible and isn’t included in this edit) to the end of the Paradise Snare. It is off screen and presented by a omniscient narrator. This brief switch in POV is probably the most obvious addition to the novel, but it was the only way to go about this without creating a whole new scene. If you’re a Witcher fan, this has been done similarly to how a key character’s fate is revealed in the “Little Sacrifice” short story. Bria’s death is mentioned throughout the Solo novel.
- Lines are added to explicitly connect Han’s decision to not kill Garris Shrike at the end of Paradise Snare and Han’s decision to kill Beckett at the end of Solo. Bria and Qi’ra’s assertions about Han being “a good man” are referenced here as well.
- Han’s promise to his EU Wookie friend at the start of Paradise Snare (“I’ll save one of your kind. I promise.”) is explicitly referenced after he saves Chewie at the start of the Solo novel.
- Han’s EU backstory connecting him to Corellian royalty has been completely removed.
- Bria and Han’s relationship has been slightly rewritten to remove the “passionate first love that is mutual” angle. This would’ve made the Qi’ra references in Paradise Snare feel awkward. The relationship is now a bit more complicated, especially on Han’s end. Bria adores Han (as in the original novel) and Han likes her, but he can’t fully forget Qi’ra.
- The closing lines of Paradise Snare are moved to end of the Solo novel.
THE HAN SOLO TRILOGY: THE CANON CUT uses the relationships Han Solo has with the two mentors in his life, Garris Shrike and Tobias Beckett, and the romantic relationships he has with two women in his life, Bria Tharen and Qi’ra, in order to explore his morality and kickstart his journey towards the more grey shaded man we see in A New Hope. I’m extremely proud of this edit and I hope you all feel that it is a more complex, mythic origin story for our favorite smuggler.
FINAL NOTE: As always, support the original authors, AC Crispin and Mur Lafferty, and make sure that you purchase both books. This is especially important in AC Crispin’s case. Crispin’s family had not been receiving royalty payments from Disney on some editions of The Han Solo Trilogy until recently. It is still not evident if this has been completely remedied. Support the creators that contribute to our favorite universe, especially when the corporations that control these IPs frequently don’t. Ok, I’m done soapboxing. Enjoy the edit, y’all.
