Han Should Have Died in Return of the Jedi, Says Harrison Ford

The Star Wars actor had a very specific fate in mind for Han Solo, but says that Lucas wasn’t sold on the idea of “dead Han toys.”

Harrison Ford’s performance as Han Solo in the Star Wars movies played a big role in making him a household name, but Ford says that he doesn’t have much affection for the character. Speaking to
ABC News, he said that he found Han boring, and had actually advocated his death to George Lucas

Ford was asked why audiences hadn’t seen Han Solo in any other movies, to which he replied that he thought that it would be too difficult to work the character back into the canon, and even if someone did come up with a way, he didn’t find the character particularly interesting. He thought Han should have died in Return of the Jedi, in order to give the movie a little bite, but said that the idea didn’t go down well with George Lucas, who apparently didn’t see much of a future in “dead Han toys.”

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time someone close to the original Star Wars movies said that Lucas cared more about merchandising than plotlines. Back in August, Empire Strikes Back producer Gary Kurtz said that toy sales had had significant influence over the script for Return of the Jedi, which had also originally called for Han to die.

As good as the original Star Wars trilogy was, the characters weren’t exactly nuanced, so it’s not hard to understand why actors might find them a little dull to play. Ford arguably had the most interesting character arc out of the principal cast, but it sounds like he didn’t especially care for Lucas’ insistence that Return of the Jedi should have a happy ending.

Source: via Blastr