Long a part of the behind-the-scenes Star Wars family, screenwriter and sometime director Lawrence Kasdan has decided it's time to hang up his blaster pistol. Speaking to the German tabloid Bild (spotted and translated by THR), he's revealed that the standalone Han Solo project - the second of the Star Wars Anthology films following Gareth Edwards' Rogue One, will be his final trip to the galaxy far, far away{
"I have now made four Star Wars movies," he's quoted as saying. "That's more than enough." The report also claims he was uninterested in the as-yet untitled Han Solo film until his family persuaded him and he agreed to collaborate on it with his son Jon.
Kasdan co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi. He sat out the prequels, but was brought back into the fold to develop the Anthology series (there were rumours for ages that he was working on a Boba Fett film). He then switched tracks to the main series, helping director J.J. Abrams overhaul Michael Arndt's screenplay for The Force Awakens.
Abrams recently described working with Kasdan as being "like taking an extended masterclass. The only requirement Larry and I imposed on each other was that The Force Awakens be delightful. It was not about explaining everything away, not about introducing a certain number of toys for a corporation, not about trying to appease anyone. This has only ever been about what gets us excited."
If Kasdan is no longer feeling that excitement, he at least looks set to depart the franchise on a high. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are set to direct Star Wars Anthology: Han Solo - or whatever it ends up being called - and it's due in 2018, the year after Star Wars Episode VIII.