Solo: A Star Wars Story show us how the character came to be, such as how Han acquired the Millennium Falcon and show us along with the famous Kessel Run but it also revealed how Han got his last name.
In a scene where Han signs for the empire, he tells the officer he has no people, hence no last name. To which the officer registers him as Han ‘Solo’. GET IT??? Although some didn’t really care too much for this reveal, some found it cheesy and forced. However, Solo: A Star Wars Story screenwriter, Lawrence Kasdan, believes it to be a vital scene in the film and was even used as a selling point in pitching the film to Disney.
Speaking to Cinema Blend, Kasdan discusses the importance of the scene along with how it was used to pitch the idea to Disney:
“Five years ago, when I came onto the thing — and Disney wasn’t on when I came on, then three weeks later, they owned the company — and they came up to Marin and Kathy [Kennedy] got the people who were already working on it to make a five-minute presentation to Bob Iger and Alan Horn and everyone. My presentation was, [Han] comes to an immigration spot and someone asks, ‘What’s your name?’
It’s not just that he doesn’t have a name, which tells you a lot about his history. He says ‘I have no people.’ That to me is so forlorn and so isolating and rife, and the guy fills in his name. Bob Iger said ‘Alright, I’m in.’ That was it. That was the moment. He reacted to it the way I reacted to it, which was, it’s very moving. This was a guy who has nothing. Someone plants a name on him. He doesn’t even know the guy. It sticks for the rest of the saga.”
Kasdan’s take on it does provide some depth to Han’s character as a lone smuggler or at least someone with no familial ties against the world, fending for himself. Then again, not much is really explored on that front which would have provided some potential for a film like this and would have provided a reason to have this film in the first place.
