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LOS ANGELES, May 6 (UPI) -- Alden Ehrenreich will reportedly play Han Solo in Disney's forthcoming Star Wars spinoff. News outlets confirmed the 26-year-old actor is in final negotiations for the role, with Page Six reporting the movie will begin filming in January 2017. Ehrenreich was first linked to the role in March.
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"Alden really impressed Disney and Lucasfilm execs with his screen tests. The deal is basically done," an insider said of the actor's casting.
Ehrenreich beat out Kingsman star Taron Egerton and Transformers: Age of Extinction actor Jack Reynor. Harrison Ford originated Han Solo in Star Wars (1977) and last played the character in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).
The Star Wars spinoff will be directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who co-directed 21 Jump Street and The Lego Movie. Lawrence Kasdan, who co-wrote three Star Wars films, and son Jon Kasdan penned the script.
"It will not be, 'Here's where [Han] was born and this is how he was raised,'" the elder Kasdan said of the movie's plot in January. "I think what it will be is what he was like 10 years earlier, maybe a little earlier, you'll get a glimpse."
The Star Wars spinoff opens in theaters May 25, 2018, but Ehrenreich may first appear in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, out Dec. 26. Miller shared a photo of Han's iconic blaster Wednesday on Twitter in honor of May the Fourth.
Ehrenreich made his film debut in Francis Ford Coppola's drama Tetro (2008) and has since appeared in Beautiful Creatures, Stoker and Blue Jasmine. He last starred in the Coen brothers movie Hail, Caesar!.
