Entertainment Weekly wraps its coverage of Solo: A Star War Story this week with the bios of some of the members of Han’s gang…
If you watched the official teaser for Solo: A Star Wars Story and didn’t recognize many of the players surrounding Han and Chewie, and of course, Lando, then we’ve got you covered. This week, Entertainment Weekly extensively covered the second Star Wars standalone film, providing character descriptions, exclusive photos, and stories from the actors themselves.
As part of that coverage, we were treated to screenwriters Lawrence and Jon Kasdan introducing some of the lesser known characters that will become part of Han’s gang in the film, and most likely will work their way into the hearts of Star Wars fans everywhere.
First up is Woody Harrelson’s Beckett. According to director Ron Howard, Beckett “shapes Han more than anybody,” and makes the young smuggler realize he has to have a moral code, even in these lawless times. Sounds like Beckett might be an anti-hero of sorts.
The Kasdans liken Han and Beckett’s relationship to that of Long John Silver and young Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island. They call Harrelson’s character “tough,” while also being “charismatic.”
Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke plays Qi’ra, who grew up on the mean streets of Corellia with Han. Unlike Han, however, Qi’ra learned to be a chameleon, adapting to whatever situation she needed to survive in.
But don’t mistake her for a damsel in distress. Qi’ra can hold her own, and will stand by Han when he needs it most.
Next up, is Westworld star, Thandie Newton as Val. Han will meet Val through Beckett, and she doesn’t exactly have a high opinion of him.
"I will say at first glance, doesn’t necessarily have total faith in Han — as a lot of people he meets in his life tend to feel about him. She’s a little skeptical of this kid when she meets him. And her relationship with him goes in, I think, an … interesting direction."
What direction that might be, is anyone’s guess. Fan theories range from a future love interest for Han, to Val being an undercover Imperial agent.
Here we have Avengers alum, Paul Bettany as Dryden Vos (no relation to Quinlan Vos the Jedi from The Clone Wars). Bettany takes over the role from The Wire star Michael K. Williams who couldn’t be on set to reshoot his scenes once Howard replaced Lord and Miller as director for the film.
Vos is described as a high-end crime boss who doesn’t like to get his hands dirty. He has others to do that for him. I wonder if this means we’ll actually see Boba Fett running errands for him.
"It’s a sort of combination of class and swagger and real danger which I think is a fun thing, and he absolutely inhabits it. He’s way deeper in the crime world than anyone else that we meet in the movie."
L3-37 is a droid played by Amazon’s Fleabag star Pheobe Waller-Bridge in a motion capture role. She is described as a “self-modified” droid who is Lando Calrissian’s (Donald Glover) partner.
"The idea is that she’s sort of a mutt, if you will, of various parts of different kinds of droids who has improved upon herself."
Jon Kasdan notes that L3-37 is unlike any droid we’ve encountered in the Star Wars cinematic universe, and she is also unique in that she is the first lead female droid to grace a Star Wars film.
Next: Solo: A Star Wars Story makes the cover of EW with all-new images
I can’t wait to see what kind of shenanigans she and the gang get into when Solo: A Star Wars Story hits theaters on May 25.