Michael K. Williams, star of the likes of The Wire and Hap and Leonard, has sadly been cut from the in-production Star Wars movie spin-off focussing on the character of Han Solo. In an interview with the trade blog Deadline, the actor revealed the news, which looks down to scheduling conflicts for reshoots with the project’s new director Ron Howard. Howard replaced Chris Miller and Phil Lord back in the summer, and reshoots inevitably followed.
“I felt great about what I created with the directors that I worked with…,” Williams said. “We created a kick-ass character, in my opinion. I’m proud of it. When Ron Howard got hired to finish out the film, there were some reshoot issues that needed to be done in regards to my character, in order for it to match the new direction which the producers wanted Ron to carry the film in.”
“And that would have required me on a plane a month ago to London, to Pinewood, to do reshoots. But I’m here, on location in Africa. It’s scheduling. I’m not going to be back on the market until the end of November after ‘Hap and Leonard,’ and for them to wait that long for me, that would have pushed back the release date, which I believe is in May 2018. They wanted me now; I couldn’t go. So they had to clip-clip-clip.”
It sounds like a total exclusion from the film may not happen. Williams continued:
“I don’t think that me not being in the Star Wars family is final. I left with a very good taste in my mouth about the whole family, and I hope that I left a good taste in their mouth. They’re a great group of people, the Lucas family.”
Williams has been down in South Africa shooting The Red Sea Diving Resort with Chris Evans.
Alden Ehrenreich, Donald Glover, Joonas Suotamo, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Thandie Newton and Phoebe Waller-Bridge lead the cast of the still as-yet-untitled Star Wars Han Solo movie, which has a release date set for May 25th 2018.
