ST Harrison Ford (Han Solo) in TFA

From the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35869648

When asked whether Han Solo, who is killed in the film, could return in some form to future movies in the franchise, Ford replied: "Anything is possible in space.
"I wanted Han Solo to sacrifice himself for the good of the other characters to bring some gravitas to the story."
Speaking about his involvement in the film, Ford said: "I was very pleased to have the opportunity to work with the other characters, to work on a script that I had real confidence in, with actors that were a dream to work with, with a director that had a very sure and generous hand, and it was altogether a pleasure."
But Ford said he does not feel an emotional connection to the characters he plays.
"I hope I bring an emotional understanding of the characters and something the audience will recognise," he said.
"I want the audience to experience the character, not to feel that they know him but to be involved in seeing what happens to him."

He hasn't confirmed he directly influenced the script. If anything I took that to mean, he just followed the direction put in front of him.

Would love to see him back in some form, it's not the same Star Wars without Han for me.

 

I think there's some misreading of what he said, the full quote was:
“I think it’s a fitting use of the character, I’ve been arguing for Han Solo to die for about 30 years, not because I was tired of him or because he’s boring, but his sacrifice for the other characters would lend gravitas and emotional weight.”

He also has implied he isn't done with the Han Solo character and could be back for voice work or other appearances. Plus let's be honest, If he heavily influenced the script don't you think he would have lobbied his sacrifice be for the other characters and lend gravitas and emotional weight?

 

No news for me and I knew from the beginning that Ford wanted a larger role in TFA, Han to have an impact like dying for the greater good + having Luke out of the story. That was the prize for getting Ford back for 1 movie.

 

That Ford wanted a "larger role in TFA" + "having Luke out of the story" was not the prize for getting Ford back.

It was the story, yes....simple as that : the story.

 

it wasn't the heroic sacrifice everyone was expecting, fans see Han Solo as a hero so they expect him to go down fighting in a blaze of glory and burned on a pyre. But the fact is that he dies alone on a quiet bridge stabbed in the heart by his son. but Harrison sees Han for what he truly is: a man plain and simple who's had a long life with many crazy adventures. He started out as a materialistic smuggler who only cared for himself and dismissed Obi-Wan as "an old fossil" and dismissed the force as a Hokey religion, through his adventures with Luke and Leia he came to understand what being selfless and having friends and fighting for the greater good is like. Now 32 years later he's the old fossil telling the new generation that the Force is real and he seen proof of it. Han is now a family man he has a son who's gone down a dark path and tries to help him come back to the light in any way possible even if it means he has to die to do it. And he knows he'll most likely will die in the attempt yet he still goes out there alone to try and save his son from a fate worse then death. and when he gets stabbed in the heart he doesn't try to take his killer with him he caresses his cheek as if to say "you're still my son and I love you" and I think Kylo touches his hand to doesn't he? anyway Han dies with the hope that maybe he pierced through the darkness a bit to let Luke and Leia in to redeem Ben.

long story short: Father sacrifices self to save his son from darkness. That's a pretty damn heroic thing to me

sorry for the rant lol

 

yes I think he died the best way he possibly could have, he didn't die peacefully in his sleep of old age and he didn't die taking down a super weapon.he died trying to save a life. could he have lived for years after this event? yes he could have but I wouldn't want to see an 80 or 90 year old Han Solo. I remember in the Fate Of The Jedi books there was a scene of Han sitting in his chair watching the 6 o clock news with his granddaughter Allana and I'm thinking WTF? that's not Han Solo lol but I think maybe I've just contradicted myself lol

 

Han Solo isn't going away from the story. There are so many possibilities to integrate Han's presence and even Harrison Ford, especially with a trilogy arc that will probably end up with the lightside turn of his son.

"The face of my son" - I could just keep hearing the voiceover words echoed everytime Kylo Ren takes his mask off in 8 and 9. It might even make Kylo Ren more married to his mask going forward, because those words will haunt him.

 

that's interesting about the mask, but what about his scar? will he view that as the price he paid for killing his Father or will he like us it to further differentiate Kylo Ren from Ben Solo? or maybe he'll just see it like "Cool now I'm even more like Grandfather!" or won't pay any attention to it at all

 

The scar will just be more of a reason to keep his mask on. A reminder of his weakness.

Sentiment.

 

In this instance I think Ford's instincts were correct with regard to the character in the OT. Han Solo's death would've better served the story in Return of the Jedi; only after consummating his love with Leia, though. Lucas's understandable sentimentality for his characters should have taken a back seat in this case. I enjoyed Han Solo in TFA. My only misgiving, Han's character regressed as a result of circumstances. I didn't feel that a character like Han should be " back to his old smuggler's ways".

I definitely think Han's purpose served now. Just a little late.

 

Everytime we see him take his mask off he looms more and more like vader, the man he admires, but also more regret and confusion each time. :'(

 

I don't know if that confirms that Ford's the reason Han died, but I wouldn't be surprised.

 

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/03/2...n?xid=entertainment-weekly_socialflow_twitter

 

Please let this be true.

 

um.

 

If you kind of Lucas and co you could make the argument that killing off Han might have distracted from Vaders death I spose that's the natural emotional climax to the film.

I'v no problem with Han dying in TFA but as you say I think his character regressed too much, it felt like less Han being used to push the story forward and more Han being wheeled out for nostalgic appeal until the end. I think he should have evolved into much more of an Obi Wan like character personally, that doesn't mean he needs to be po faced as Guinness wasn't and Gandalf even less so.

The film is IMHO hurt by Rey lacking this kind of mentor character outside of Maz being dropped in from nowhere briefly and I think it means her character ends up poorly defined relative to Luke.

 

rotj was a happy ending and a good stopping point if that's where you wanted to stop. it makes much more sense going forward for a mentor to die in the first act of a new trilogy and it wasn't going to be luke.

tpm - qui gon
anh - obi wan
tfa - han

 

I just realized that Han had command of the Millennium Falcon for less than probably a day before he died. Talk about discouraging.

 

it really is gut wrenching. Harrison pulled it off. He took a character he had not played in 32 years, and brought it to life again. It was this success, that made it that much harder to see him die.

 

The subtitles help with that.

 

Yeah. You could tell Harrison enjoyed playing the character again too.

 

Believe it or not but Harrison Ford is set to reprise the role of Han Solo.
In the upcoming Lego Star Wars the Force Awakens video game!
Personally I think it's pretty awesome of him to do this, and very unexpected too as he's never done any real voiceover work before, not even for animated movies like Pixar.
They've released a new trailer too and his acting sounds pretty good from the few lines we can hear.