Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 7 Reasons Killing Han Solo Would Be A Terrible Mistake

Is it curtains for everybody's favourite scruffy-looking nerf-herder? Gulp!

Anyone else got a bad feeling about this? That's no use pretending that - given the speculation and rumours that have been doing the rounds for months and months ever since the world clocked on and realised that, hey, what if they actually killed off Han Solo? - it isn't a genuine possibility. Yes, Han Solo, arguably the greatest Star Wars character of all-time and everybody's favourite cinematic smartass, could meet his end in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens come December time. "Oh, they won't kill Han," you say. "He's the best character. Why would they bring him back if they just wanted to murder the guy?" Well, for exactly that reason, perhaps. Everybody knows that Harrison Ford always wanted Han Solo to die and was peeved when George Lucas refused to kill the iconic smuggler in Return of the Jedi. Could J.J. Abrams have lured Ford back onto the set with the promise that he'd kill Han Solo if the actor returned? Doing so would allow Ford to fulfil a long-time ambition, after all, and - had it been his only proviso for returning to a galaxy far, far away - there's very little doubt about whether Disney would have agreed. Now, considering the dramatic potential (not to mention the fact that such an event would just, like, break the world), you can understand why the writers might want to kill Han come Episode VII. That said, it's still a terrible, terrible, terrible idea. Seriously. Killing off Han Solo would be a huge mistake; one that would bring about more good than bad, and would damage the legacy and narrative weight of the new trilogy...
Contributor

Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.