Han Solo Movie Officially Begins Filming Under Code Name “Red Cup”

Christopher Miller, one of the directors of the upcoming young Han Solo standalone film, announced the beginning of filming with a clever tweet.

It’s official: the next Star Wars standalone movie, a young Han Solo-centric story, has begun filming.

One of the film’s directors, Christopher Miller, tweeted out a photo of a clapboard much like the one J.J. Abrams revealed when he started production on The Force Awakens. The clapboard shows the code name “Star Wars: Red Cup” as the film’s working title. “Red Cup” is a reference to the brand of plastic cups called Solo.

Along with the photo, Miller tweeted the words, “Han First Shot.”

Back in December 2016, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said Han Solo would start shooting in February 2017. The date appears to have been pushed up a couple of days, given Miller tweeted the clapboard photo today, January 30th.

Currently, the Han Solo movie features a main cast consisting of Alden Ehrenreich as a young Solo; Donald Glover as a young Lando Calrissian; and Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) and Woody Harrelson (The Hunger Games) in as yet (officially) unrevealed roles.

We do know a little more about Harrelson’s character, however. Harrelson himself confirmed his character is a mentor figure to Solo. And though he did not come out and say it, his character may even be one Legends fans are familiar with. In an interview with Harrelson, Variety asked him if he was playing Garris Shrike, a bounty hunter and street scammer who employed young boys like Han to do con jobs for him. As a Legends character, Shrike may or may not be canon, but he could easily be repurposed for the Han Solo movie. As for Harrelson’s answer – “I am [playing Garris Shrike]” – there is no telling whether he is being truthful or not. We likely won’t learn the truth until Star Wars Celebration in April, where the standalone film will be discussed in a panel.

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Keep checking Dork Side as we keep you up to date on the production of the Han Solo standalone movie.