Warning: SPOILERS For Solo: A Star Wars Story
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making the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. Ron Howard's film also adds numerous new layers to Han Solo's early days so that fans learn how he got into the dangerous life of smuggling across the galaxy and what enemies he made along the way.
While Solo is a complete adventure which also sets up potential sequels and spinoffs, the movie does leave open some questions it neglects to fully answer. Some of this is because the movie's story has to maintain forward momentum, leaving a few key details unspoken. Inevitably, the film can't fill in all the answers to questions fans may have.
Related: Solo: A Star Wars Story's 30 Biggest Easter Eggs
Some of the details the movie omits and answers fans seek can be found in ancillary Star Wars media such as spinoff novels and the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels set in the expanded universe. Nevertheless, many of the audience won't be up to speed on all aspects of the EU and will inevitably leave the theater wondering about a few things.
Here, then, are the biggest unanswered questions from Solo: A Star Wars Story and, if applicable, where fans might find the answers not offered by the film:
- This Page: Questions About Han, Chewbacca, and Qi'ra
- Page 2: Questions About the State of the Galaxy
What Was Han's Real Last Name?
One early surprise is that Han is given his famous last name by, of all people, an Imperial recruitment officer when he applies to become a pilot for the Imperial Navy. It's an interesting twist that one of the galaxy's greatest heroes (or he will be in the future) took his name from the greatest force for evil of that era. But it begs the question: Why didn't Han have a last name before Solo?
It doesn't really make sense that Han didn't; later in the film, he relates a story about his father, whom Han has childhood memories of. Han's father was a shipbuilder who helped construct the Empire's vessels on Corellia. Did Han's father also not have a last name? That doesn't sound likely. It's possible that Han shed his father's surname when he was recruited to Lady Proxima's criminal gang as a child, and went by his first name in his life of crime (his childhood friend Qi'ra also suspiciously lacks a surname). If that's the case, then Han did have a last name before it became Solo - but what was it?
Related: When Is Solo Set In The Star Wars Timeline?
How Did Han End Up Working For Lady Proxima?
Solo Rogue One; Qi'ra and Han are young adults roughly in their early 20s when the film begins, with the main story taking place three years later. Outside of them obviously growing up together and being romantically involved, Solo doesn't offer up many details as to how they were recruited (or forced) into a criminal life by Lady Proxima.
Thankfully, fans can turn to the YA novel Most Wanted by Rae Carson, which depicts the lives of the teenage Han and Qi'ra as they navigate the seedy, industrial underworld of Corellia. The most important part of the Han and Qi'ra relationship as it relates to the film is their romantic bond, which Aldren Eirenreich and Emilia Clarke's acting definitely conveys. But had the film offered some more tidbits about their shared past, it would have only strengthened fans' appreciation of their relationship.
Why Was Chewbacca The Empire's Prisoner on Mimban?
Han Solo met Chewbacca when they were both prisoners of the Empire on the planet Mimban. Han was tossed in a pit to be killed and eaten by "the Beast", which is what the Imperials called their Wookiee in chains. Instead, they formed a fast friendship, turned the tables of their captors, and escaped. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship that spans decades.
Han was able to quickly gain Chewie's trust because he speaks and understands the Wookiee language, Shyriiwook. Han's new furry friend offered some tidbits about the Empire attacking and enslaving his fellow tribe on his homeworld of Kashyyyk, but Han never asked what Chewbacca did to end up incarcerated in a muddy hole in Mimban. Ultimately, how Chewie got there isn't as important as where they went next together, but it still would have been nice for the film to let the Wookiee tell his tale.
Related: How Solo Sets Up The Boba Fett Spinoff
How Did Qi'ra End Up With Dryden Vos?
The last time Han saw Qi'ra, she was being dragged away by Lady Proxima's thugs. As Han spent the next three years in the Empire's armed forces, dreaming of returning to Corellia for her, Qi'ra managed to do quite well for herself. When they encountered each other again on Dryden Vos' opulent yacht, Qi'ra was now the trusted lieutenant of Vos and a member of the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate.
How Qi'ra managed to rise up to such a lofty position in the galactic underworld in just a few years is a tale begging to be told - but Solo doesn't. The best the film manages is Qi'ra and Vos both alluding to "the things she's done" after Vos found her and took her away from Corellia. Considering how physically intimate Vos and Qi'ra are and her capacity for murder she later reveals when she doublecrosses Vos and usurps him as the leader of Crimson Dawn, the story of Qi'ra becoming a crime lord invites all kinds of sordid speculation. For now, fans just have to imagine just what Qi'ra did for three years, unless a sequel reveals more.
Page 2: Questions About the State of the Galaxy
Why Is The Empire Using Crime Syndicates To Smuggle Coaxium?
Tobias Beckett and his crew, which later includes Han, Chewie, Qi'ra, Lando, and L3-37 when they heist Coaxium from the Kessel mining colony, work for Dryden Vos, who runs Crimson Dawn. During the Beckett crew's failed train heist on Vandor, they attempt to steal Coaxium from the Empire, which sends droids to protect the cargo from both Beckett's gang and the marauders called the Cloud Riders led by Enfys Nest.
However, later on Savareen, when Enfys unmasks and reveals that the Cloud Riders are actually a proto-Rebel force fighting the Empire, she indicates the Imperials work with the syndicates like Crimson Dawn. If that is indeed the case, why would the Empire choose to work with the underworld, especially to steal hyperfuel? In Rogue One, the Empire clearly uses their overwhelming military might to take Kyber crystals from Jedha.
Related: The State of the Empire And Rebellion During Solo
Potential answers to these questions are that the Empire is still in its early years, hence the drive for recruits. They are still a ways away from having the massive fleet fans saw in the Original Trilogy. It's also possible the Empire is working with the syndicates to accomplish different kinds of shadowy goals. But if the Empire is in bed with Crimson Dawn, why did Vos ask Beckett to steal Coaxium from the Imperials on Vandor?
Why Does Crimson Dawn Work For Darth Maul?
The appearance of Darth Maul, alive and well, at the end of Solo was the film's biggest surprise. The reveal that the Sith Lord is the superior whom Dryden Vos answered to creates a slew of new burning questions. Is Maul the true leader of Crimson Dawn, or were Vos - and now Qi'ra - the syndicate's crime lord but under the thrall of the Dathomirian Zabrak? What is his greater agenda, and what are Maul's true goals for Qi'ra and Crimson Dawn?
The tale of Darth Maul's survival and path back to power is told in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. After cheating death in The Phantom Menace, the tattooed Dark Side disciple was last seen building a criminal coalition called the Shadow Collective before he was exiled. Later, in Star Wars: Rebels, which is set years after the events of Solo, Maul resurfaces again. However, Darth Maul giving Crimson Dawn their marching orders in Solo is definitely a surprise for fans and leaves us wondering the hows, whys, and what's next?
Related: A Complete History of Darth Maul
What Was Really Going On Between Lando and L3-37?
This can truthfully be filed under the category of "We don't really need to know all the details," but there was clearly something more between Lando Calrissian and his co-pilot L3-37 than just the usual working relationship between human and droid. L3 even alludes to Qi'ra about "how it works" between her and Lando when they had a bit of girl talk aboard the Millennium Falcon. For his part, Lando may be very open in regards to his sexuality, but he clearly had deep feelings for L3, which he displayed when she was destroyed by blaster fire on Kessel. Fans who need to know more can find the backstory between Lando and L3 in the 5-issue Marvel Comics series Lando: Double or Nothing, which is set immediately before the events of Solo.
Why Aren't Han and Chewie Going To Find Chewie's Family?
Solo's ending sees Han and Chewbacca piloting their newly-won Millennium Falcon, which has been rebuilt from the damage it took during the Kessel Run. They decide to go to Tatooine to see about a job with the Hutt Cartel. Why didn't they instead attempt to reunite Chewbacca with his long-lost family?
While Han and Chewie heading to Tatooine both sets up a sequel and winks at Han's future employment with Jabba the Hutt that results in the gangster putting a price on his head, it's also a weird choice. After all, Han is aware of Chewie's history and how he was forcibly separated from his loved ones. Han's driving ambition earlier in the film was to reunite with Qi'ra and his Wookiee friend stood beside him through every ordeal. Chewbacca deserves a chance for a reunion with his tribe, just like Han got. Why didn't Chewbacca suggest, or Han offer, to take their new ship and do the Wookiee a solid? Jabba can wait.
How Do You Actually Play Sabacc?
Since games of sabacc twice decided the ownership of the Sabacc seems to resemble poker, but lacking any explanation of even the basics of how the game is played (besides that the green card hidden in Lando's sleeve is a trump card), fans were left to the reactions of the players and onlookers like Qi'ra to figure out which hands were the winning hands. After all, even Harry Potter explained the rules of Quiddich (even if they didn't always make sense). Solo could have at least done the same for Sabacc.
