Original trilogy characters who might appear in Solo: A Star Wars Story

Photo Credit: Lucasfilm

1. Jabba the Hutt

Yes, the almighty Jabba is extremely likely to show up – nay, play a pivotal role – in Solo. Han Solo and Jabba the Hutt have a history. In A New Hope we learn that Han owes Jabba a large sum of money due to a failed smuggling mission. Han had to jettison cargo that was apparently very valuable to Jabba after garnering the attention of Imperial forces. In fact, the whole reason Han and Chewbacca agree to bring Luke Skywalker and Ben Kenobi to Alderaan is because they need cash to pay off their debt to Jabba.

Solo could very well be the story of that fateful failed smuggling mission that Han alludes to in A New Hope. We could see Jabba early in the film, as the stimulus to the entire story. Either Han himself, or Tobias Beckett, Han’s mentor, could visit Jabba in search of work. Could Jabba commission the film’s crew to smuggle something of value – spice? kyber crystals? Who knows? – Past Imperial lines. Jabba gets paid, the crew gets paid, and the Empire loses some tax dollars – win, win, win. Unfortunately, we know that cargo won’t ever make it to its destination, so Jabba won’t actually get paid, Han will be in debt, and the Empire will collect a lot of unaccounted for money – lose, lose, lose.

"Solo! Solo! Too Nakma Noya, Solo!"

Of course, if Jabba the Hutt shows up, that means we’ll also see the planet Tatooine. It’s unlikely that Jabba would be on another planet – he could, though, even be shown visiting some of the other Hutts on a different planet. If we do see Jabba on the world on which he plays such a prominent criminal role, it will be the seventh time seeing Tatooine on the big screen, including its appearance in The Clone Wars film.

Photo Credit: Lucasfilm

Furthermore, where there’s Jabba, there’s also his trusty Twi’lek servant Bib Fortuna, and his loves-to-laugh sidekick Salacious B. Crumb. We’ll be devastated if we see Jabba and we don’t see Crumb.