Star Wars: Predicting The Next 10 Years Of The Franchise
7. 2018: Han Solo Returns
And then just like that Han Solo will be back in a prequel movie, looking at back at the early days of the man who would give up his life to [INSERT SPOILER HERE] at the end of Episode VIII.
Trepidation will be high; how can anyone follow in Harrison Ford's footsteps? Well Chris Pratt can, but at this point he would have just been cast as Indiana Jones in the reboot to follow the final Ford-led Indiana Jones movie in 2019...
What We Know Will Happen
According to recent comments by Kathleen Kennedy, we won't be witnessing another Jake Lloyd-style 10-year old Han Solo. He'll be in his 'high teens, low 20s' (a little younger than Pratt then) and set far enough back for A New Hope so as not to destroy all the mystique around his character.
What We Predict Will Happen
An amazing performance by an as of then unknown actor will convince many and thanks to the playful nature of Chris Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's direction, a stunning script from Jon and Lawrence Kasdan and memorable performances from younger versions of Lando Calrissian and Boba Fett, the second anthology film would be viewed as a success. Not quite as good as Rogue One but still better than anyone could have predicted.
Around this stage, with Star Trek already in a second season of a successful TV show, rumours will begin to surface about a Star Wars live action TV show on ABC. The animated Star Wars Jedi Academy will be going strong with its second season, while Netflix will push on with a Darth Maul series - because who wouldn't want that? - and a fourth show set between Return Of The Jedi and The Force Awakens.
News breaks that George Lucas is returning to the franchise to revive his TV series based on the rise of the Empire. Immediately debunked, this will be followed by an announcement made at the end of the year that, based on the success of the Netflix shows, development a live action network Star Wars TV show is underway.
Then expect to hear nothing for five to six months...