A Lord & Miller Solo: A Star Wars Story Trailer May Exist

A brand new report claims that a Solo: A Star Wars Story trailer consisting only of footage shot by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller actually exists. The original directors of the project were booted three weeks before filming was supposed to wrap and then were eventually replaced by Oscar-winning director Ron Howard.

The second Star Wars anthology movie, Solo: A Star Wars Story traces back to the galaxy's most beloved smuggler days as a regular Correlian citizen wanting to find a way to get out of the predicament that he was in. The film introduces Alden Ehrenreich as the younger iteration of Han Solo, which was originally popularized by Harrison Ford, but it also stars Donald Glover as young Lando Calrissian, Emilia Clarke as Qi'Ra, Paul Bettany as Dryden Vos, and Woody Harrelson as Tobias Beckett, among others. And the bulk of them were hired when Lord and Miller were still running things.

A new report from Screen Crush suggests that a Phil Lord and Chris Miller Solo: A Star Wars Story trailer was actually ready to screen at last year's Star Wars Celebration in Orlando, but Lucasfilm ultimately decided not to.

"Lucasfilm had created a Solo trailer to show at Star Wars Celebration, assembled from the footage from Lord and Miller’s shoot. They just chose not to screen it. According to my source, the trailer was cut together and then shelved for exactly the same reasons that Lord and Miller were let go two months later; Lucasfilm wasn’t happy with it."

Not knowing that there was turmoil brewing behind the scenes, the fans didn't read into the matter as anything more than the studio simply not having anything to show yet. And considering the pressure for the movie to make a good first impression, people assumed that Lucasfilm was just being extra cautious, especially with regard to the initial footage that they were going to show. But apparently, it was foreshadowing the directing duo's creative differences with the studio, which resulted in them parting ways three weeks before principal photography was supposed to wrap up.

This also gives fans an idea of the timeline of events leading up to Lord and Miller's exit. If the duo had already assembled a trailer as early as April 2017 (in time for Celebration) and Lucasfilm executives weren't exactly thrilled with it, it's curious why it took them almost three months to realize that the filmmakers weren't fit for the job. Perhaps the two camps attempted to compromise in order to prevent their professional break-up. Whatever the case, Lucasfilm has been very tight-lipped about it ever since the news broke.

From its announcement until its release, it has always felt like Lucasfilm had to continuously prove that Solo: A Star Wars Story's existence isn't just a cash-grab. And it's unfair for those who worked hard on the project for people to have their pre-conceived notions of the film before even seeing it. While it's perfectly normal to come see the movie a bit weighed down, because of their knowledge of the production kerfuffle it had gone through last year, it's best to watch it being cautiously optimistic instead of being downright pessimistic. Regardless of what everyone's ultimate verdict on the standalone will be, coming in with an open mind will result in an overall better movie-watching experience... for any movie.