Earlier this year during her exit interview from Lucasfilm with Deadline, Kathleen Kennedy briefly touched on her one regret with Solo: A Star Wars Story—the idea that “when you’re into something and you realize fundamentally, conceptually, you cannot replace Han Solo, at least right now.”
Turns out the Disney Parks have proved her right again.
Today Disney and Lucasfilm revealed the latest addition to the overhaul of Galaxy’s Edge—shifting from its initial plans to a familiar hodgepodge of things from the original Star Wars trilogy—in the form of the Han Solo character, who will walk around the park (joining the previously established Luke Skywalker and the still unrevealed Princess Leia).
Never tell me the odds. Meet Han Solo, Captain of the Millennium Falcon, at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland Park starting April 29. pic.twitter.com/XQnKhckvVt
— Star Wars (@starwars) April 15, 2026
Now, this is not a knock on the cast member who’s been hired to fill those Corellian-bloodstriped pants. He looks perfectly fine, even a little like Nathan Fillion forgot his Mal Reynolds costume and just decided to give up the pretense. The costume itself is similarly cromulent as a replica of Han’s Return of the Jedi look, but perhaps a little too clean and neat for Han Solo. The problem with the look, if anything, is the wig, which makes this poor man look like half a Wookiee has been dumped on his head and only kinda styled.
But it all comes together to paint a picture that is just off enough that the real problem hits you: damn, it really is just impossible to replace Harrison Ford in your mind’s eye. And that sets it all off even if, again, all the other elements are by and large fine.
For all the benefits Disney feels it’s going to get from pruning out as much of Galaxy’s Edge‘s original worldbuilding to just give the masses the Star Wars they want, there is probably something in the fact that you now run the risk of creating enough uncanny valley with people that these wandering characters don’t quite feel like the legendary characters they’re meant to be. And if Alden Ehrenreich, acting his socks off, couldn’t shake that effect off of people, what hope does a random Disney cast member have?
There’s a good reason a lot of those parks characters are people in full-body suits and helmets: those are much easier to get looking right! Which is probably why you’ll see a lot more Vader and Stormtroopers than Han wandering around Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge when the rollout of new timeline changes begins on April 29.
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