Lawrence Kasdan talks Han Solo spinoff, Star Wars future

Lawrence Kasdan has been with Star Wars for much of its iconic past, and now he’s excited and curious to see where the franchise is headed in the hands of directors J.J. Abrams, Rian Johnson, and Colin Trevorrow.

“Now with J.J., you get a whole new generation with a kind of dynamic mastery of camera and effects put together by someone that has a strong personality himself,” Kasdan said in a new Los Angeles Times interview, comparing the franchise’s latest director to what George Lucas did in starting the original trilogy. “He’s a really decent guy, and he makes movies the way I try to make movies, which is that it’s a privilege to make a movie and no one should be miserable.”

Of course, the franchise will continue on beyond Abrams’ contribution, with Rian Johnson helming Episode VIII and Colin Trevorrow behind the camera for Episode IX. Kasdan sees the changing of hands as an opportunity for each director to put his own unique creative spin on the galaxy far, far away.

“These movies will all be so different. [Episode VIII director] Rian Johnson is a friend of mine — he’s going to make some weird thing,” Kasdan said. “If you’ve seen Rian’s work, you know it’s not going be like anything that’s ever been in Star Wars. You couldn’t have three more different people than J.J., Rian, and Colin. Those movies will have the Star Wars saga as their basis, but everything else will be different.”

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And Kasdan’s time with the franchise is not over, as he’s writing the script with his son Jon Kasdan for the spin-off Han Solo film. Yet even for him that aspect of the franchise’s future is somewhat of an exciting mystery for him.

“Then Phil Lord and Chris Miller are going to make the Han Solo film and I can’t guess what that will be like — and I’m writing it,” he said. “You know, he’s younger in this [spin-off] movie and that’s fun because you have to imagine him 10 years earlier in his early 20s. What was he like before he hardened up? Before he had some setbacks? Before he put on this cynical coat? What got him there?”

This week, it was reported that more than 2,500 actors had met to possibly star in the Han Solo spinoff film.

For more from Kasdan on the franchise, including the prequel trilogy’s place in the planning for the new films and why calling the Star Wars films “goofy” is meant as a “high compliment” from Kasdan, read his full LA Times interview.