It looks like the one ship in the galaxy that the Millennium Falcon can’t outrun is friendship, because The Wrap is reporting that Chewbacca will be joining his best buddy Han Solo in the lovable scoundrel’s standalone Star Wars spinoff. This news comes from Disney’s Bob Iger himself, who specifically referred to the movie—which will be directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller—as “an origin story about Han Solo and Chewie.” Granted, the idea of Chewbacca being in the Han Solo movie is about as surprising as that story about McDonald’s not putting real cheese in its mozzarella sticks, but that doesn’t mean we can’t use Iger’s quote to speculate on what the Han Solo movie will be about.
For one thing, it seems important that Iger says it’s “an origin story about Han Solo and Chewie” and not “an origin story about Han Solo and also Chewie is there.” Iger seems to be implying that Chewie is going to be integral to the story, or maybe the movie will even be all about how he and Han became friends in the first place. Along with the exciting adventures in space, it could have a touching scene where they meet each other, Han says “let’s be best friends,” then Chewie roars, and then they hug. Or, better yet, the movie can delve into Chewbacca’s backstory and finally introduce his family—which only ever appeared in the terrible Star Wars Holiday Special—to Disney’s new canon. His dad Itchy and his son Lumpy would be great additions to the proper Star Wars universe. In fact, Lumpy should probably just get is own standalone spinoff movie. Lumpy: A Star Wars Story has a nice ring to it.