Will any of these awesome solo movies be announced at Star Wars Celebration 2017?

Star Wars: Rogue One was a brave new direction in making a Star Wars film in every sense. From the darker tone, complexity of the characters, to the simplicity of not having an opening crawl. It was still part of the same universe, but it also gave a new weight and some much-needed expansion to the main film mythos.

With the Star Wars Celebration underway, it is likely to there will be more reveals to what these spin-off Star Wars stories will be about, and who will be involved.

So, what do we already know about Star Wars’ future – and what can we hope to see?

The solo Solo movie

The next film we know the most about is the Han Solo movie (or the solo Han Solo movie depending on how you say it) with the casting pretty much set in stone and a story being crafted to suit the roguish smuggler’s standard.

The cast looks really cool – with Alden Ehrenreich (Hail, Caeser!) being cast in the lead as Solo, with Donald Glover (or Childish Gambino for you music lovers) portraying Lando Calrissian and a supporting cast including Woody Harrelson (Zombieland) and Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones).

It will be extremely surprising to not see any announcements or teasers about the Han Solo movie. Even if it’s just getting all the cast on the stage, or a quick little glimpse of the Millennium Falcon doing the Corellian Run. Odds are though, there will even be a concrete date for its release.

Obi-Wan movie

Revolving another spin-off around a fan favourite, there have been recent mumblings about a standalone Obi-Wan Kenobi movie, with Ewan McGregor reprising his role as the old Jedi Knight.

Whereas the Han Solo will be a prequel and origin-like story for Han Solo, it’s fair to assume that a Kenobi film will centre around his more senior years. This spin-off is just rumoured at this point however, and is somewhat less likely to be announced this week.

Although McGregor has noted he would love to play Obi-Wan again, he has not confirmed if anyone has approached him about making any sort of film. In terms of what the film would be about, there is also a lot of mystery. Where a lot of spin-off stories may be origin in nature, the Kenobi spin-off may lack any real captivating stories, aside from him taking out some Tusken Raiders, but I doubt they would be able to make a two-hour film about that.

Boba Fett movie

These are the main two talked about potential spin-offs, with the Solo movie most likely getting a date. There are a few more concepts which may be at least hinted at during the Star Wars Celebration.

One spin-off which has been talked about for a while has been a Boba Fett movie. We haven’t been this close to a solo Fett adventure since the release of Star Wars: Bounty Hunter way back in the early 2000s.

Certainly, this film would have a lot going for it if it were ever developed. Fans have wanted the infinitely popular bounty hunter’s story to be more fleshed out, and a film revolving around his career would lend itself well to a darker and grittier Star Wars film, something akin to what we could have seen in the cancelled game, Star Wars: 1313.

If a Boba Fett movie was to come into the light, then it would certainly open up a lot of interesting possibilities; did he survive the Sarlacc pit? Did he have any previous run-ins with Han Solo? Did he ever unite the Mandalorians again?

The future of Star Wars anthology stories

These are the kind of interesting concepts that future Star Wars Stories (spin-offs) should be exploring. The mainstream movies promise to be brilliant and captivating, with reports suggesting that Mark Hamill has completed his performance of a lifetime in The Last Jedi.

But these stories offer something different – and in turn are their own movies, with unique identities. You could have a Han Solo movie as this semi-comedic bad-ass space cowboy adventure, for example. Perhaps a Boba Fett film rooted in violence and anti-heroism, also. Maybe even an Obi-Wan standalone which is both mind-bending and philosophical.

In short, these movies are necessary for the Star Wars franchise. Not just in how they could add a significant amount of lore, background, and answers to the questions of Star Wars mythos, but because they have the potential to be damn good fun as well.

Who knows what we’ll see the Star Wars Celebration, but I have a good feeling about this.