Jabba the Hutt set to appear in Han Solo movie?

The Han Solo movie has been getting a lot of attention over the last week due to the sudden departure of directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Ron Howard has since taken their position, and while there's still a lot to absorb about what went down behind the scenes during Lord and Miller's tenure, the project is gearing up to begin filming again with Howard at the helm. In the aftermath of this turmoil, it's now being reported that one of Han Solo's familiar nemeses may be appearing in his spinoff movie: intergalactic gangster Jabba the Hutt.

Supposedly, the Han Solo movie will show Han's history with Jabba “played out”, and the Hutt will be party CGI and partly an animatronic puppet, reports CinemaBlend. The Hashtag Show came across this information before Phil Lord and Chris Miller left, but the outlet does not believe that Jabba will not be taken out of the movie because he is a “big plot point.” It's worth taking this report with a grain of salt, but if it's true, that would make Jabba the fourth established Star Wars character to appear in the second Anthology film, following behind Han himself, Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian.

Jabba the Hutt was first mentioned in “A New Hope” when Greedo came to collect the money that Han owed Jabba. While a CGI Jabba was later added into the 1997 Special Edition of “A New Hope”, he didn't make his true debut until “Return of the Jedi”, and it wasn't long before he was killed by Princess Leia during the Sarlacc sequence. Jabba briefly appeared in “The Phantom Menace” to watch the Podrace in Mos Espa, and he also made several appearances in 2008 TV series “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”. 

Although specific plot details for the Han Solo movie haven't been revealed yet, Jabba's inclusion would make sense, as Han had performed several jobs for the Hutt before getting on his bad side. Since this movie takes place years before “A New Hope”, presumably it would either depict Han meeting Jabba or at least show the young smuggler at a time when he was still in good standing with the gangster.

Along with potentially showing Han and Jabba's history, the Han Solo movie is also rumored to show how he acquired the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian. The main cast includes Alden Ehrenreich (as Solo), Donald Glover (playing a young Lando), Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Thandie Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Michael K Williams, Ian Kenny and Joonas Suotamo. 

The Han Solo movie is still scheduled storm into theatres on May 25, 2018.

Source: Cinemablend