'Solo' Ending Explains Why Rey is Right About Millennium Falcon Kessel Run

One of the funniest moments in Solo: A Star Wars Story also foreshadows a funny moment in The Force Awakens. That’s right, Solo has retroactively validated Rey’s confusion about the Millennium Falcon’s Kessel Run record. Was it 12 parsecs or 13? Turns out Rey was probably right and Han is lying…a little bit.

Spoilers head for Solo: A Star Wars Story.

In Solo, after years of confusion, we finally learn why Han boasted about a measurement of distance rather than time to complete a trip through outer space. In the movie, we learn that “the Kessel Run” just means navigating a spaceship through a series of crazy gravity wells, while trying to avoid space-bourn monsters lurking in the routes that aren’t designated as safe. Lando says that the Kessel Run takes “20 parsecs” but he’s talking about the safe route. Han decides they’re going to take a route that is much less safe, which is only possible for two reasons.

First, at this point, the Falcon is actually being piloted by Han, but navigated by the brain of L3-37. Because she’s an awesome and advanced droid, L3 is able to plot a shorter — and more dangerous — course through the maw. Second, Han instructs Beckett to pop a drop of raw hyperspace fuel into the engine, which will give the Falcon an extra boost.

All in all, this explanation is totally feels like some Star Trek-level technobabble, but it all works out just great. And, the Falcon makes the Kessel Run in 13 parsecs. At least, that’s what it sounds like if you pay attention to the exchange between Chewie and Han toward the end of the movie. Han says 12, and Chewie protests and Han shakes his hand back and forth and says “Not if you round down.”

This proves Han has always been rounding down about his Kessel Run boast. 40 something years later, in The Force Awakens, when Rey learns that she’s standing on the Millennium Falcon, she says excitedly that it’s the ship that “made the Kessel Run in 13 parsecs!” To which old Han snarls, “12! Not 13!”

So there you have it. Whoever Rey heard the story from must have not heard it from Han. Meaning, the only person insisting that he did the Kessel Run in 12, is Han Solo himself.

-Solo: A Star Wars Story is out in wide release in theaters everywhere .