Michael K. Williams’ role was cut from the new Han Solo movie.
The Han Solo Star Wars spinoff movie has had a few bumpy roads during production. For example, in June directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller left the project due to “creative differences” with three weeks left to go in filming. On the heels of that came the reports that the split was not nearly as amicable as both sides claimed. Ron Howard was hired to direct, but with him came the news that extensive reshoots will be needed.
Now the news comes that the talented Michael K. Williams has been cut from the movie entirely by Ron Howard due to scheduling conflicts with the reshoots.
In an interview with Deadline, Williams reveals that when Howard was signed on, he was working on a different project with Ben Kingsley and Chris Evans, called The Red Sea Diving Resort, and was busy filming in South Africa at the time.
“When Ron Howard got hired to finish out the film, there were some reshoot issues that needed to be done in regards to my character, in order for it to match the new direction which the producers wanted Ron to carry the film in, and that would have required me on a plane a month ago to London, to Pinewood, to do reshoots. But I’m here, on location in Africa. It’s scheduling. I’m not going to be back on the market until the end of November after [his SundanceTV series] Hap and Leonard, and for them to wait that long for me, that would have pushed back the release date, which I believe is in May 2018. They wanted me now; I couldn’t go. So they had to clip-clip-clip.”
Williams was going to play a half-human, half-animal in the movie, as Williams explains it was “a kick-ass character, in my opinion.”
While he may not be featured in the Han Solo movie, Williams has not counted out his chances of appearing somewhere in the Star Wars universe.
“I don’t think that me not being in the Star Wars family is final, I left with a very good taste in my mouth about the whole family, and I hope that I left a good taste in their mouth. They’re a great group of people, the Lucas family.”
Meanwhile, reshoots will continue to happen, which will possibly lead a trailer in a few weeks, possibly around the time Star Wars: The Last Jedi hits theaters.
What do you think? Discuss this story with fellow Project Casting fans on Facebook. On Twitter, follow us at @projectcasting.
