Oh Opie, you're such a tease.
Ever since he took over directing the Han Solo solo movie in June, Ron "Opie-Wan Kenobi" Howard has been teasing Star Wars fans with his tweets. He's shared a photo of his feet. Of a parody coffee mug. Revealed a video (now apparently deleted) of himself throwing away some trash on the set.
And, to be fair, he's also given us some intriguing peeks, such as that of Chewbacca checking a shot, or a certain character's colorful wardrobe.
But on Wednesday, Howard tweeted out both an image and a short video from the Han Solo movie. The video is brief, and doesn't show much other than some trailers and cars parked on the set. But it was the photo that sent some Star Wars fans into hyperdrive.
The Empire Looms Large pic.twitter.com/IN7GiiJtXY
— Ron Howard (@RealRonHoward) August 16, 2017
Howard's photo seems to show one of the helmets worn by Death Star troopers sitting on a control panel of some kind. Like, a control panel possibly located on said Death Star, maybe? Which shouldn't have been, uh, fully operational if the Han Solo movie takes place many years before the original film, 1977's "Star Wars: A New Hope."Â
Not to mention that Han doesn't know of it before that film. Did he have a memory failure, like when 1977 Ben Kenobi forgot he ever knew R2-D2?
But there are a million ways to write around those facts if Howard and crew really want to cast the famed ultimate weapon in the film. Maybe this was a preview version, sort of the model home of Death Stars. Maybe they just called it by a different name, like, oh, Starkiller Base (naw, who would do that?).
Howard, wisely, left things to fans' imaginations, captioning the photo only with "The Empire Looms Large."
Fans weighed in with reactions covering everything from "Spaceballs" to Han's famed "boring conversation" that ends with him warning Luke to prepare for company.
— Mark E Sutter (@MarkESutter) August 16, 2017
— Harrison Ford Pod (@GetOffMyPodcast) August 16, 2017
— Star Wars: Universe (@SWsUniverse) August 16, 2017
— The Shadow (@LethalShadow01) August 16, 2017
Not to worry, we still have 1/2 a mask😉. pic.twitter.com/EPEyaM8G4w
— Tarkin's Top Shelf (@TarkinsTopShelf) August 16, 2017
Oh its beautiful. pic.twitter.com/DREVYkBSat
— Chris Dmytriw (@chrisdmytriw1) August 16, 2017
OMG I KNOW WHAT THAT IS!! pic.twitter.com/Jfj2MzV4ml
— Matt Zunich (@Matt_Zunich) August 17, 2017
But one fan points out that the Empire is kind of a one-trick tauntaun when it comes to design, so this might not be the Death Star at all. Well, what fun is that?
We have seen in past films that the Empire has a similar decorating style on different installations. It probably isn't the Death Star.
— Martin Hatfield (@baldormoline) August 16, 2017
Man your battle stations, fans. The Han Solo movie comes out May 25, 2018.
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