Star Wars' Recasting Backlash Hurts The Franchise's Future
The backlash to Star Wars recasting some of its most popular characters proves that the franchise's future is already being hurt. One of the most popular and enduring franchises of all time, Star Wars boasts an expansive universe in which its stories take place. Though George Lucas' original movie, Star Wars, captured the imaginations of audiences everywhere (and is still doing so over four decades later), many of the creative choices made over recent years have proved to be incredibly divisive amongst Star Wars' massive audience.
As with any property with a passionate viewership, opinions differ wildly from person to person, and nowhere is this more evident than with Star Wars. This has been clearer than ever since Disney's $4.05 billion buyout of Lucasfilm in 2012, as the direction of the franchise has been regularly criticized and questioned. Disney's focus on creating more Star Wars movies, including anthology movies such as Solo and Rogue One and their own Star Wars sequel trilogywas met with far more vitriol than might have been expected. One of the decisions made by Disney that most sparked public ire was its recasting of Han Solo for 2018's Solo: A Star Wars Story.
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Recasting Han Solo for the film was a necessity, as the core premise was to show a young Solo before meeting Luke and Leia. This meant that Harrison Ford was too old to play the part, and naturally, it was recast with Alden Ehrenreich. Though the actor's performance was praised, many were unhappy with seeing another actor in the iconic role, and other, more significant problems with the movie led to it underperforming and Lucasfilm shelving plans for other Star Wars anthology movies.
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