10 Things You Didn't Know About Han Solo

After three original trilogy movies, a few sequel appearances, and even his own spin-off adventure

it's safe to say that fans have gotten to know the lovable rogue that is Han Solo pretty well

But there are still more than a few Solo secrets out there that many a Han Stan is yet to discover

So I'm Gareth, this is WhatCultureStarWars, and here are 10 things you didn't know about Han Solo

Oh, and because just about everyone already knows that he was originally going to be a green alien

and Harrison Ford wanted him to be killed off during the original trilogy, you'll be relieved to learn they will not be discussed in the following entries

Number 10, George Lucas wanted to make the Solo movie before Disney bought Lucasfilm

Solo, a Star Wars story, has gone down in history as one of the biggest flops of the Disney Star Wars era

struggling at the box office despite being a pretty solid and fun adventure

It wasn't Disney who first came up with the idea to give this legendary smuggler his own movie, though

George Lucas was actually interested in making a Solo film, with the Star Wars creator having a meeting with Kathleen Kennedy and Lawrence Kasdan about that potential project

three weeks before the House of Mouse bought Lucasfilm in 2012. Kasdan, who helped write the screenplays for both Episode 5, The Empire Strikes Back, and Episode 6, Return of the Jedi

wasn't really sure if he wanted to write more Star Wars material, but when the idea of doing something with Solo, his favourite character, came up, he jumped at the chance

Even after Disney bought Lucasfilm, they were still up for another solo adventure

and were happy to let Kasdan work with his son Jonathan to continue writing the script

What followed was the second of Disney's Star Wars stories. 9. The Secret Episode 8 The Last Jedi Easter Egg

Speaking of the Disney era of Star Wars movies, Episode 8 The Last Jedi was the only sequel trilogy movie the iconic Han Solo did not pop up in

But he actually sort of did, in a way. Early on in that middle chapter of the latest trilogy, Paige Tico eventually managed to release a ton of bombs from her ship

with these then crashing down onto the First Order Dreadnought below. Watch closely just as those bombs begin to fall, though, and you'll spot some white Orabesh writing scribbled on some of them

There's even a smiley face. The bomb closest to the screen for a second or two after Paige hits the big red flashing button actually contains a little nod to Ben Solo's dad

The words, Han says hi, can be found on that explosive object

Now sure, director Rian Johnson may not have been able to work with the great Harrison Ford in this movie

but he still found a way to add a little Han into his film. This secret Solo easter egg was not the only way that Johnson saluted the icon in episode 8 of course

as the projection of Luke Skywalker would hand Leia Organa Solo's golden dice

before they'd eventually evaporate along with the Illuktion. Yes, I am not proud of that joke

But speaking of easter eggs in Star Wars, I want to know right now what is your favourite easter egg or cameo in any Star Wars project over the years

Let me know in the comments down below 8 What he got up to after the original trilogy ended While the average Star Wars fan is likely well aware of what Han Solo got up to throughout the original trilogy and how his time within the galaxy far far away came to an end in

the sequels, how he spent the three decades in between those films isn't really as well known

The expanded universe version of events show him getting involved in some quite unexpected

situations, more on that later, but his Disney canon history is also just as fascinating

You see, after getting married to Leia Organa, Han would help his pal Chewbacca free the Wookiees of Kashyyyk

who had been enslaved by the Empire, as seen in the Aftermath Life Debt novel by Chuck Wendig

From here, Solo and Organa would welcome their child Ben into the world, of course

Then, after years of soaring across the galaxy in his precious Millennium Falcon, Solo put these skills to good use

He actually became a racer for a time, even returning to his home planet of Corellia to race in the Gauntlet

Claudia Gray's Bloodline book also revealed that Solo ended up owning a shipping company at 1.2

and ultimately managed the prestigious Five Sabres Racing Championship in the years after the Battle of Endor

You all know what happened next. Solo and Leia would sadly separate after their sons fall to the dark side

with the former and his pal Chewbacca then going back to their smuggling ways

Number 7, Han Solo actually was an Earth Herder. While on the subject of interesting periods in Star Wars history that didn't make it onto the big screen

something that went down during the time between Episode 4 and New Hope and Episode 5, The Empire Strikes Back

actually somewhat changes the way you'll look at one rather famous insult forever

Who will ever forget the moment when Leia Organa called her future hubby a stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder

It turns out that there's a little bit of truth to this outburst, though. After the first Death Star was destroyed, Solo and Luke Skywalker ended up taking a smuggling job to earn some cash in the Marvel Star Wars 2015 comic series

What were they tasked with moving across the galaxy? You guessed it, nerfs. A lot of nerfs

These illegal space buffalo were crammed inside of the Millennium Falcon in the 17th issue of the comic

with Solo not exactly being happy about so many smelly animals making a mess in his ship as they eventually delivered them to Ibar

So this does technically mean that Solo was a nerf herder for a little while at least

though he probably didn't enjoy being reminded of the time his ship was well and truly nerfed

Number 6, his stepdad was almost in episode 5, The Empire Strikes Back

The late Lee Brackett wrote the first draft of what would later become episode 5, The Empire Strikes Back

That script included a ton of fascinating ideas that fans would ultimately never see on the big screen though

and many have never even heard of. One of the most intriguing things found on these pages was the fact Han Solo was seen

being asked to track down his stepfather, Ovan Marakel, in this version of the story

Why did Leia want him to go on this mission? Well Marakel was the leader of the Transport Guild and apparently the most powerful man in the galaxy next to the Emperor according to Bracket script and Organa wanted him to join the Rebellion side in the Galactic Civil War However Mariko wouldn actually physically appear in that draft

with Han only deciding to go and find the man he didn't have the greatest relationship with

towards the end of the movie. Brackett would sadly pass away due to cancer not long after turning in her draft

Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan would then rewrite the screenplay, and though some of Brackett's ideas remained

like Luke's training with Yoda known as Minch in Brackets Draft, all mentions of Marakal disappeared, robbing the galaxy of this family reunion

Interestingly, a version of Ovan would eventually show up as Han's dad in the new canon in the end

though he would only appear in the Han Solo and Chewbacca comic series and still hasn't been shown on screen

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Number 5, his blaster was based on Winston Churchill's favourite. A number of things spring to mind when the name Han Solo is thrown into a conversation

The smuggler's cheeky grin, his ability to always deliver a killer one-liner

and of course his tried-and-tested weapon of choice, the DL-44 modified heavy blaster pistol

Solo would use this iconic gun to fire shots off at many a stormtrooper

and famously had it yanked right out of his hand by Darth Vader. But did you know that this smuggler's favorite weapon was actually based on another famous figure's go-to gun

That's right, none other than Winston Churchill was a big fan of the real Mauser C96 German pistol

that was used to create Solo's blaster in Star Wars. To create the DL-44 seen on screen, a vintage German Hensault scope was added to the C96

along with a flash hider from a Mauser MG81 machine gun. And if that wasn't interesting enough for you

Not only was the C96 originally used for Harrison Ford's gun also used for the Frank Sinatra starring 1967 film The Naked Runner

this World War I era pistol was also sold for over a million dollars at an auction

That's an expensive gun. Number 4, he was almost in Episode 3, Revenge of the Sith

Back when George Lucas was putting together the conclusion of his prequel trilogy

the creator of the galaxy Far Far Away had an idea that would have involved a young Han Solo popping up on Kashyyyk

In an early draft of Episode 3, Revenge of the Sith, Lucas had the 13-year-old Han show up on screen

and deliver the line, I found part of a transmitter droid near the East Bay

I think it's still sending and receiving signals. Not only that, it would have also been revealed that Chewbacca raised the eventual smuggler on his homeworld

He'd also say that aforementioned line to none other than Master Yoda

which would have been the first time the pair had ever interacted on the big screen. But Lucas soon wisely decided he didn't fancy dropping the original trilogy legend into the story

and scrapped the cameo as he continued scribbling. Eventually revealing in Paul Duncan's The Star Wars Archives Episode 1-3 1999-2005 book

I rejected it after I read it I said this is stupid I was being a smart aleck tying things together and being a little too clever for my own good Number three Leia wasn the only person he married sort of Returning to the spell between episodes four and five now

not only did the Marvel Star Wars 2015 comic series reveal Han Solo was actually an Earth Herder

it also brought with it the surprising news of him being married to a woman called Sana Staros

Well, kind of. Before he ultimately tied the knot with Leia Organa after episode six, Return of the Jedi

Han and Staros pretended to get married to pull off a scam

The two were trying to execute a robbery together, but Solo would ultimately disappear with her cut

What a scoundrel. So when she reappeared in the sixth issue of that comic

and confronted Solo in front of a surprise Leia, Sana was understandably not very happy

She even threatened to turn Leia over to the Empire. Hell hath no fury and all that

After eventually deciding not to hand Leia over to the Imperials, though

she'd actually work alongside Solo and Organa, with a woman who can technically call herself Han's first wife

becoming an important character in her own right and also eventually starring in her own comic series in 2023 too

Number two, he once won the planet of Dathomir in Legends. You know that spooky planet Maul calls home

The same one many a Nightsister has been seen on over the years? Well, Han Solo owned that world once

As balmy as that sounds, it's actually something that went down within the expanded universe

Solo won the deed to the planet in a game of sabacc after learning that a prince had proposed to Leia Organa

In another example of Solo being a bit awful to the women in his life, he'd then kidnap Leia and take her to his newly won world

after she'd pointed out that he had actually just been conned. That planet was in the part of the galaxy that belonged to the warlord Singe, you see

His plan to then win her over on this world didn't exactly work out too well

as Solo was soon captured by Force Witches, Nightsisters. Serves him right

Both he and Leia would eventually survive the ordeal though, and still ended up marrying in Dave Wolverton's The Courtship of Princess Leia novel

ending this somewhat surreal story on a happy note at least. Number one, another famous Han Solo line was created by Harrison Ford

It's been mentioned a million and one times over the years, so there's a good chance you've already heard the story of Harrison Ford

coming up with the iconic I Know line in episode five, The Empire Strikes Back

What you probably didn't know, however, is that the Megastar was also responsible for another undeniably cool Solo response in the original trilogy

Remember that scene in the first Star Wars when Luke Skywalker blasts a TIE fighter

using one of the Millennium Falcon's quad laser cannons? Well, as Mark Hamill would reveal when talking to the Russo brothers on their Pizza Film School podcast

Han Solo's brilliant reaction to him celebrating wasn't entirely scripted. After Han says

Great kid, the addition of Don't Get Cocky was all ford. It's a brilliant little ad lib that took Lucas' rather dull line and made it feel like something this cocky smuggler would unquestionably say in the heat of battle

And it's just one of the many moments that helped make Han Solo one of the coolest figures in the galaxy