Despite not being born yet, Kylo Ren will somehow crash the hype surrounding a movie all about his dad. One Star Wars tie-in novel will connect the events of Solo: A Star Wars Story with stuff that happens right after Return of the Jedi. Which means, it will depict a very young Ben Solo before he starts going by the name Kylo Ren.
On Friday, Entertainment Weekly revealed enough new Star Wars books to fill a space cruiser. And the most interesting title was the novel Last Shot by Daniel Jose Older. Billed as a “Han and Lando Novel,” the book will span the events before Solo and after the end of the classic trilogy. Which, means, according to Lucasfilm Publishing creative director Michael Siglain: “Part of it takes place post-Return of the Jedi, and that’s where we see Han, Leia, a very young Ben Solo, and Lando come into the story.”
Donald Glover as Lando.
Despite not appearing in any installments of the sequel trilogy so far, Lando has nonetheless had an impact on Kylo Ren/Ben Solo before. In Chuck Wendig’s Star Wars novel, Empire’s End: Aftermath, Lando strongly considers buying Ben Solo a cape for his birthday. Which is of course ironic, since Kylo Ren develops such a taste for capes later in life.
The adventures of Lando and Han before The Empire Strikes Back have canonically been somewhat mysterious. In some books — like Rebel Dawn — we learn that Lando actually learned how to be a better pilot from Han Solo. But, those books were relegated to the status of the “Legends” canon in 2014. So, at this point, Han and Lando’s history together is wide open.
Beyond whatever they end up doing with the Kessel Run in Solo, it looks like Star Wars is far from done telling stories about these two space buddies, and occasionally partners in literal crime.
Solo: A Star Wars Story is out everywhere on May 25, 2018.
