Stand Alone Star Wars Will Be When Han Solo Met Chewie

(Spoilers for the few who haven't seen The Force Awakens)

When Han Solo died at the end of The Force Awakens, lightsabered through the heart by his emo hipster son, it was hard to watch. For people like me who grew up on Star Wars it was like losing a close family member. Our only conciliation is that there is a Han Solo spin-off film in the works. Sure, it won't be Harrison Ford but at least the character will live on. There has been speculation about what exactly it will be about. Disney head honcho Bob Iger revealed that it will be "an origin story about Han Solo and Chewie." So, if we take this literally that means that the movie will focus not just on Han Solo but on the defining relationship of his life, which let's face it, is his friendship with Chewbacca.

When Disney bought Lucasfilm, they made the expanded universe non-canon with one press release. But the old story was that the Empire enslaved the Wookiee race to use as manual labor. Chewie was one of these enslaved Wookiees. Han was a young cadet at the Imperial Academy. One day, Han saw an Imperial officer beating Chewie almost to death. Han intervened and possibly kills the officer to save Chewie. He is then forced to leave the academy and this led him to his life as a smuggler. Chewie follows him and swears a life debt to Han for saving his life. Who knows if directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller will use elements of this story. There is precedence for them using stuff from the Expanded Universe in the new canon. In the old Expanded Universe, one of Han and Leia's kids, (the boy of a set of twins), turns to the dark side and becomes a Sith...just like in The Force Awakens. AND you have to wonder IF perhaps Rey is actually Han and Leia's daughter, perhaps Kylo Ren's twin? That's straight from the Expanded Universe. We'll see.