Following the exit of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from the UNTITLED HAN SOLO STAR WARS ANTHOLOGY FILM (seriously, can we just give this thing a name?), Ron Howard stepped in complete production on the film, and it seems as though he's been having a ball playing in the STAR WARS sandbox. In a little bit of a Force Friday celebration, Ron Howard took to Twitter to tease Paul Bettany's presence on the set and later confirmed that the actor would in fact be appearing in the film.
Ron Howard added that this will be the third time he's worked with Paul Bettany, after A BEAUTIFUL MIND and THE DA VINCI CODE, calling him "a blast and so talented." As for which role Paul Bettany will be playing this late in the game, that's a little more unclear, but it's a good bet that Bettany could be stepping into the role recently vacated by Michael K. Williams, who unfortunately couldn't return for reshoots. According to /Film, they've been told that Bettany will be playing the "exact same character Williams was set to play, with the same name and motivations. However, the character will now be a human instead of a motion-capture alien." Given the time-crunch they're under if they still hope to make their release date in, counts on fingers, nine months, scrapping a motion-capture character would be a good way to save a little time.
The UNTITLED HAN SOLO STAR WARS ANTHOLOGY FILM is set for a May 25, 2018 release.