According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lucasfilm and directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The LEGO Movie, 21 Jump Street) have narrowed their search for a female lead in the Star Wars Han Solo prequel/spinoff to three frontrunners. Tessa Thompson (Annihilation), Zoë Kravitz (Mad Max: Fury Road), and Naomi Scott (Power Rangers, The Martian) have all recently tested for a role opposite Alden Ehrenreich’s young smuggler. Which seems to point to exactly what that role is: Sana Solo, Han’s wife from the comics.
Last summer, Marvel’s Star Wars tie-in comics—which were set after A New Hope and completely canon—pulled a fast one by introducing Han’s secret wife, badass smuggler Sana Starros. Despite introducing herself as married to Han, the truth is that it was all a sham: They got hitched as part of a long con, only for Han, unsurprisingly, to take off with all their loot. So, there’s a chance that the movie could be a heist film with a hearty helping of the ol’ “fake marriage” trope.
After capturing our attention in Dear White People and Selma, Tessa Thompson is moving into the SFF realm: She’ll star alongside Natalie Portman, Gina Rodriguez, and Jennifer Jason Leigh in Alex Garland’s Annihilation (based on Jeff VanderMeer’s novel); she’s on HBO’s Westworld; and she’ll appear as Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnarok. Personally, I would love to see her as Sana, though I wonder if her commitment to the other Southern Reach books (assuming they get adapted as well) would preclude her to taking on the role.
Zoë Kravitz’s Toast the Knowing was one of the most striking of Immortan Joe’s wives in Mad Max: Fury Road and the kind of role that’s getting her consideration for projects such as this. In the next few months you can see her in both Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and the Divergent TV movie (assuming she’s reprising her role as Christina).
After a small role in The Martian, Naomi Scott (who was in the short-lived sci-fi TV series Terra Nova) will play Kimberly the Pink Ranger in Power Rangers.
The fact that Lucasfilm was looking for a woman of color to play the female lead has been rumored since August. If we’re down to three frontrunners, Lucasfilm is likely to make a choice sooner rather than later.
