In the past few days, the Internet has been abuzz with the talk of George Lucas selling Lucasfilm to Disney for a mammoth $4.05bn., with the announcement of the sale including talk of a new Star Wars trilogy, with the latter intending to have Star Wars Episode VII in cinemas in 2015.
Just last night, we heard the first big rumour for the coming project, that Matthew Vaughn is reportedly in talks to take the helm for the new instalment.
And now EW are reporting that Harrison Ford, the star who really embodies the franchise for a lot of the fans, is open to reprising his role as Han Solo:
““Harrison is open to the idea of doing the movie and he’s upbeat about it, all three of them are,” said one highly placed source, referring to Ford, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher.”
Lucas has said that he’s penned treatments for Episodes VII, VIII, and IX, and naturally the plots are being kept under wraps – not least because they could well change in the coming years – but one thing we’re expecting is for the story to take place a few decades after the end of Episode VI.
In three years’ time, it will have been over three decades since the release of the final film (in the original trilogy), which would certainly put Ford’s age at about the right time should that be the case.
The actor returned to another of his most iconic roles back in 2008 with the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which took almost $800m. worldwide, and there’s every reason to expect a new Star Wars film to get closer to the $1bn. mark.
Ford reportedly won’t be going any further with talks until a director and a script are in place, but that he’s open to returning should be good news for fans of the franchise. It would be nice to see a familiar face to hand off to a new, younger generation of heroes. More as we get it.
