50 Roles for 50 Actors: Dream casting the Star Wars saga

Dream casting the Star Wars saga: Chris Pratt as Han Solo

I’m giving into the universe on this one. Chris Pratt has been floated as someone who could play a young Han Solo in the character’s upcoming origin story. Given that Pratt is already in his mid-30s, that’s not a possibility, but for our hypothetical remake of the original trilogy, he’s the painfully obvious choice.

Basically, Pratt already played Han Solo in Guardians of the Galaxy, where his character was a charming rogue who traveled the universe doing good with a rag-tag bunch of misfits. He was funny, sexy, and at home with special effects-laden action scenes. Most important of all, he was likable. It’s not hard to draw a connection to another fictional character here.

He sort of played a Han Solo knockoff in Jurassic World, too, where his rough-and-tumble animal trainer wise-cracked his way through a number of death-defying situations. Hell, you can even see Pratt’s potential as a Han Solo type when watching him on Parks and Recreation, where he throws himself into physical comedy with total commitment.

Realistically speaking, we’ll never see Chris Pratt play Han Solo, but it almost feels like Hollywood is missing an opportunity by not moving heaven and earth to make it happen. I guess that’s why it corrected itself by casting him in Guardians of the Galaxy.

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