While Ron Howard recently noted that a follow-up to Solo: A Star Wars Story is not a high priority for Lucasfilm at this time concerning the future fo the franchise, the director also seems to hope that he turns out to be wrong on that. Released in 2018, Solo brought something new to the table, serving as a prequel with Alden Ehrenreich leading the cast as a younger Han Solo. The film came up short at the box office, perhaps in part due to this experimental approach, though it did garner positive reviews with more and more Star Wars fans warming up to the film in the years since.
Howard clarified his stance on Solo 2 in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter. He seems to fully support the idea of the story moving forward at Disney+ following the success of other Star Wars shows like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor. With that said, he didn't serve as a producer on Solo, so the future of that story is not up to him to decide. So, while Howard can't personally greenlight another film or follow-up series, he's hoping that it one day happens, whether or not he's involved. From the interview:
"I’m not a producer on Solo. I came in in support of the project and for my long relationship with George, Kathy and Larry Kasdan. So I have not even been in conversations about it. One would assume that there’s some characters there that could go much further, but I’m not sure where Disney+ is going with the Galaxy. These shows are not only important to everybody who works on them, but they’re a big bet for the company each and every time. They make their choices really carefully, and they want to keep growing and evolving. So I know that’s not really an answer, but there’s a real appetite to understand where Star Wars can take audience members to, in addition to building upon characters and ideas that are already known. But there’s a lot of talent in Solo, and whether I was involved or not, I would love to see some of those characters again."
Agreeing with the suggestion of Emilia Clarke's Qi'ra getting a spinoff, Howard added:
"Qi’ra is pretty interesting, yeah. There are a lot of question marks swirling around her, so I would love to see that, too."
Will Solo 2 Ever Happen?
At different points in the years since Solo was released, there have been fans banding together with social media campaigns to #MakeSolo2Happen. However, as Howard's latest comments would suggest, the follow-up is no closer to happening now than it was before, even with interest from the director along with many fans. The closest that fans have come at this point was the announcement of a Lando limited series that would see Donald Glover return as Lando Calrissian. The current status of that project is unknown, however, following its original announcement in 2020.
Who knows if we will ever see a Solo movie happen, but it's not completely outside the realm of possibility. For now, you can stream the original film where it is available on Disney+.