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New Han Solo confirmed, and details from ‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’ emerge

Harrison Ford as Han Solo in 1977's "Star Wars," left, and Alden Ehrenreich at the Star Wars Celebration in London on Sunday.
(Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment via AP; Ben A. Pruchnie / Getty Images for Walt Disney Studios)
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The three-day “Star Wars” celebration, aptly titled “Star Wars Celebration,” closed in London on Sunday with a few fun announcements, including official confirmation of the next Han Solo. 

It’d been speculated for months that the new, younger Han Solo would be “Hail, Caesar!” actor Alden Ehrenreich. But now Disney and Lucasfilm were ready to make it official. Ehrenreich took the stage to greet his new “Star Wars” fans and officially confirm that he would be playing the lead role in the Han Solo origin movie. He was joined by “Lego Movie” directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.

However, at the Celebration panel, the trio said very little about the Solo film;  they didn’t even reveal its title. The directors are currently in London writing the Solo script with “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “The Empire Strikes Back” writer Lawrence Kasdan and (his son) Jake Kasdan.

However, there was a bit more news from the “‘Star Wars: Episode VIII” portion of the panel.

Director Rian Johnson confirmed that the next “Star Wars” episodic film would take place right after “Episode VII: The Force Awakens.”

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https://twitter.com/starwars/status/754682467341205505

Johnson promised that the second film in this new episodic tale would really  “start zooming in on the characters [and] challenging them and getting deeper.” 

The next Star Wars Celebration will take place next year in Orlando, Fla. Johnson pledged he would return. 

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