by: S. Scott Stanikmas

Even though it’s still three years away, Star Wars fans are clamoring for as much news as they can get in regards to the Han Solo-centric film.

While it was extremely light on details, EW managed to glean a few nuggets from Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy regarding everyone’s favorite bounty hunter and the reasons behind why this movie is being made:

He’ll definitely be probably in the high teens, low 20s. We’re not introducing you to a 10-year-old Han Solo.

…There’s got to be a reason for [the stand-alone film] to be. And obviously the thing that Star Wars has always done so well is it doesn’t spend a lot of time [explaining] the stories that have come before. We don’t want to do that either. We don’t want to spend time going back and answering a lot of questions that, quite frankly, I don’t think people want answered…. I think the key here is that we are identifying an event or events in Han Solo’s life that gives you some idea of who he is and why he is the character we have all known to love.

Since we meet Han in A New Hope in his thirties, there’s a HUGE amount of material that could be mined. From adventures with Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian to how he ran afoul of Jabba the Hutt and Boba Fett to exploring the fact that he was once married (thanks Marvel Comics!), there is no shortage of possible stories.

As far as writers, Lawrence Kasdan (The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens) recruited his son Jon Kasdan to come aboard and help:

Since I did not expect to be sidetracked like this [by the demands of The Force Awakens script], when I came back to it I said to Kathy, you know, I would like Jon to write this with me. I could use some inspiration and Jon is really good, and he’s full of energy for the project, and I said, I think Jon would be a good one to do this. And we went forward that way.

But we’ve got a long way until we get here. First we’ve got the Gareth Edwards’ directed Rogue One which is set to drop in 2016 followed by Episode VIII. Then we’re getting the Han Solo film on May 25, 2018. And third on the docket is the rumored Boba Fett film which is now being talked about for a 2020 release.