“Chewie, we’re home.” Who didn’t get goosebumps when they first saw Han Solo’s introductory scene in Star Wars: The Force Awakens? Having Harrison Ford step back onto the Millennium Falcon for the first time in 30 years was the perfect way to bring back the iconic smuggler. But earlier on in the movie’s development, an alternate entrance for Han was entertained. And some newly revealed concept art gives us a look at how things could have gone down.
Digital artist Christian Alzmann has shared a piece he created for Episode VII which depicts Han in a cantina in some corner of the galaxy, drinking his alien bar-buddies under the table. “Early concept for how we might have met Han in Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” Alzmann wrote in his caption. “Out-Drinking everyone at a cantina.”
You can see the artwork in the gallery below:
So, what can we tell from this piece about the original plans for Han’s introduction in TFA? Well, we can presume that he was spending his time drinking away his sorrows following the turn of his son Ben to the dark side and his subsequent estrangement from wife Leia. This is slightly different from the filmed version, where Han had thrown himself back into smuggling as a distraction from his pain.
Secondly, Han seems to have become alerted to someone arriving in this cantina over to his left. Maybe we can infer, then, that Rey, Finn and BB-8 actively sought out Han’s help originally, rather than having him track down the Falcon on his own. Our big question is, though, where the heck is Chewie? Would the best pals have been separated in this version of events? Did Chewie remain with Leia?
It’s intriguing to know how things could’ve gone so differently in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but I think we can all agree that J.J. Abrams went with the better introduction in the end.