Lit Han and Leia in the EU - A Discussion Thread (Life Debt spoilers must be tagged)

Yeah, yeah, yeah... we know they're going to do it at some point and this is what we're likely to get:



(You know I love you unicorn!)

 

better than calling someone else Han Solo. I think most eu portrayals of Han were great

 

Neither Daisy nor Adam have ever mentioned chemistry-testing, whereas we know it was an important part of John's audition process (and that Daisy left hoping he'd be the one to get the part ).

I'm also hoping for a Leia cameo in Rogue One. Just a glimpse of the iconic dress and cinnabuns, as you said. And Leia makes a thousand times more sense as an R1 cameo than Han, I don't get why so many people were convinced that would happen.

 

Seriously though... using Tom Cruise as an example... height and build matter!



And look at these two dorks! Can anyone really imagine Han as being any shorter? Alden is the same height as Mark Hamil! How are they going to "movie magic" the difference between a 5'9" man's frame and Harrison's 6'1"? The only way is ensure there are never any long form body shots like this, ever! Or, since the Han movie is pre-ANH to always keep Alden in that time frame so we don't have Luke and Leia to compare him to.

 

In a word: Platforms.

 

Unlike the old Legends Han backstory, I was always left with the impression that Han didn't have much to do with the Rebellion before ANH, so to me like you said it would make way more sense to see Leia there instead of Han.

A pre-ANH movie or TV series on Leia's life before ANH would also be kick ass. I always thought she had by far the most interesting backstory of the Big Three. Alexandra Bracken's ANH novelization book gave us a glimpse of that.

EDIT: Oh and phew on the no chemistry testing between Daisy and Adam. There are so many fans absolutely convinced Episode VIII is going to be a love story between the two of them, sometimes I think I watched a different version of TFA than they did

LoveThis, well in the new Han Solo movie the only character Han will be interacting with that we already know is Chewie, so they can just make Chewie shorter. There's plenty of movie magic that can make people appear taller. Elijah Wood isn't really 3'0 tall and Ian McKellan isn't 7'0 tall but they made them both look like they were through perception camerawork in LOTR.

 

Those platforms are going to have to be sky high like the kind Prince used to rock in his performances!

ETA: unicorn, for LOTR they often built two sets, one for the hobbits and one for the non-hobbit folks, and green/blue screened the whack out of that movie to try to make it work, and often it didn't! There were plenty of inconsistent scenes where the hobbits were different sizes, the height and size differences between characters were off... I mean, sure they can try to make a short guy look taller, but barring just banning full body action shots, keeping faux Han squarely in the pre-ANH era, and/or casting a faux Leia at 4'9" and a faux Luke at 5'5" (Or Jedi Ben's suggestion of monster platforms! ) I don't know how they're going to make it believable!

I do think the characters' relative height and build is an important part of who they are. Han is taller, older, physically exudes male confidence, and is Luke's stand in "big brother." He kind of loses that if he's not taller than Luke. And Luke is slim, slight, and naive, but builds an inner strength over the course of the OT. Leia is this tiny little woman who is a spitfire and powerhouse, which belies her physical appearance.

 

I just don't think it's that big a deal...River Phoenix is only 5'10 and played a very believable young Indy. To me, it's more about whether the actor can exude the same kind of charisma and attitude that Han had. And in the Young Han Solo movie he won't be interacting with Luke and Leia - the only person we know he'll be interacting with is Chewie.

I reserve the right to be annoyed at the Young Han Solo movie if it turns into a repeat Han Solo Trilogy with Han or his love interest running into everyone important in the galaxy (Winter, Vader, Boba Fett, Mon Mothma, Bail (by proxy of Winter)...that was one really contrived part that felt unbelievable to me in a galaxy of trillions. Bail Organa joining the Rebellion because Bria convinced him to seemed super contrived and Mary Suiesh, especially after AOTC and the deleted scenes of ROTS.

I also don't like the idea of Han helping out the Rebellion before ANH and getting burned by it which is why he's cynical in ANH. He never struck me as someone who hated the Rebellion, just considered it folly and idealistic.

On LOTR, I would say it worked for the general audience - I've seen that movie approximately 20+ times and I've never noticed any problems with the height differences anyway

 

If they keep Alden squarely in a pre-ANH timeline, and don't orchestrate him interacting with OT characters (besides a slightly shorter Chewie, which is what they've done with the new Fuzzball!) as I've been stating over many previous posts it's less of an issue (except the not being as hot as Harrison part - but that's all me!) But, if they were to use him in remakes or recasting with a new Luke and Leia I would be pretty turned off. It's bad enough as it is! And anyway, the age difference between River Phoenix as young Indy and adult Indy as Harrison was much greater. We're supposed to believe that Alden is Han less than a decade younger? Meh! You're right it will probably work for a general audience but even my mom cringed and said it was all wrong when I showed her a picture of Alden and told her that he was going to be "young" Han!

 

I was surprised they didn't have more kids, like they did in the old EU (do I miss those days). Although, I could see that with the GFFA becoming what it is by the time of TFA, I guess one kid was enough. Although I think Leia might have wanted a daughter.

 

I miss the old Legends kids too. At least Han and Leia's only kid wasn't an evil villain and they were never portrayed as bad parents who screwed up their kid.

I definitely miss the special father/daughter relationship that Han had with Jaina. I could really see any daughter of Han's being a daddy girl. We sort of got that in the new EU of Han taking on Greer and these other pilots as surrogate children and Leia doing the same to her political staff. It made me think that they did that to ease the hole of having a son who never really related to them, especially Han, which makes me sad.

 

Pity they killed off 2 of the 3 legend kids and the 3rd had to kill the second brother. At least I could stop with only Anakin dead.

I'd like to see an AU series with Han, Luke and Leia raising Ben (good), Rey, Finn, Poe, Joph, Greer, Kor Sella, etc.

 

Han and Leia were kind of portrayed as less than great parents in legends though. It's just that it was indirect criticism by Winter and C3PO raising the kids most of the time.

 

The release date for Princess Leia Royal Rebel Backstory keeps getting pushed back. The date for the Kindle version is now Nov 29.

 

Midtown's list for 12 Oct has Han Solo #4, maybe it can undo some of the damage from Star Wars #23.....

 

I certainly hope so. And I hope they'll think twice before including anymore punching, kicking and running over with speeders....it ain't big and it ain't clever!

 

I'm not even sure it's worth it, but I keep hoping there'll be something new about Leia's childhood.

 

It would be hard to beat Madame Alexandra's fanfic AU where Leia had an obsession with a holo soap opera about Corellian pilots titled "Moon Jockeys" as a teen. LOL. Sometimes I wish fanfics could be canon!

 

Well them having Winter raise the twins until they were 2 was really dumb and I never believed Han and Leia would let Luke talk them into that. After the children were back at home though, it seemed like they were good parents with Han being the primary caregiver. I don't think anyone tried to blame Jacen going Dark on Leia being a working mother either.

The problem with the novels coming out now is that everyone will look at them through a filtered lens since we know how it all ends up to look for "clues" in how Han and Leia screwed up, which is really unfortunate.

 

I don't how you'd find such clues since most of these take place long before Ben was born, or at least don't directly focus on his relationship with them.

 

Unfortunately, there are already people saying because Han chose to leave Leia while pregnant and didn't want to come home, he didn't really want to be a husband and father.

There will be books out covering Ben's childhood, but I bet we have to wait until after Episode VIII for those.

 

But those people obviously haven't read the books, right? Or are they smoking crack while doing it?

Spoiler

Life Debt made it pretty clear that leaving Leia was hell on Han, but he felt he owed Chewie. Also Leia understands why Han did what he did in the end, and even encourages him to stay while she returns to Chandrila. But of course, Han says he needs to be by her side!

How that can be twisted around to what the Han and Leia detractors say is beyond me! I am dumbfounded by people's lack of reading comprehension!

 

Yeah, actually the fact that Han never abandoned Chewie proves that he was loyal to his friends and family. So Kylo had a great man as his father, unfortunately Kylo prefers space nazis I'm sure that Kylo doesn't like "Anakin", per example, just Vader (while Luke loves "Anakin").

 

Well, that is also kind of why I have a hard time imagining some of Han and Leia's post ROTJ life, TBH. Han doesn't have much in the OT, but what he does have (his ship and his friendship with Chewie) has a deep binding attachment. Luke and Leia become part of that close circle for him over the course of the OT. I know he's on tour during Bloodline, but after Ben goes Kylo? Part of me still thinks it's weird he split with Leia. Like not even "as a fan I don''t like it" weird. More like WTF, lazy plot device weird!

 

https://mobile.twitter.com/IlGlaz/status/784133015907790850/photo/1

Sneak preview of Han and Leia in TFA graphic novel! They're holding hands!