Chris Miller Gives Updates on Han Solo and Spider-Man Movies

Last night we got a brief update from Chris Miller on 23 Jump Street, with the writer / director revealing that he and partner Phil Lord will produce but not direct the sequel. Lord and Miller are currently busy with a few other major projects, including the young Han Solo Star Wars film and an animated Spider-Man movie for Sony. Although he initially didn’t provide updates on either of those projects, Miller had a few things to say later on following his appearance at The Last Man on Earth TCA panel.

Speaking with IGN, Miller was able to talk a little bit about both projects, although he obviously couldn’t go into great detail. Both the young Han Solo movie and the Spider-Man animated film will hit theaters in 2018, and Miller first talked of the understandable pressures of the former:

It’s a huge pressure. We always try and find something that’s gonna… give fire to our bellies and do a really good job. And this feels like there’s a lot of pressure to not screw this up. So we’ve definitely got that motivation and then the rest of it is about trying to give audiences a fresh experience that doesn’t feel like you’re just trying to check off some checklist of beats that you’re expecting and make something that feels new and exciting for people, but at the same time honoring what was so great about that character.

Miller went on to call Han Solo “one of the best characters ever created” and described him as “morally ambiguous.” The writer / director — like most fans — has loved the character since his childhood, making it clear that Lord and Miller weren’t simply hired for their popularity and ability to take middling ideas and turn them into pure gold.

An actor has not yet been cast to portray young Han Solo, and we likely won’t hear anything on that front until sometime next year.

As for the animated Spider-Man project, Miller had less to say, though he did assure fans that we’re not getting yet another origin story:

I will say, it is not just another Peter Parker origin story that you’ve seen 400 times. It is something totally unique and different and not like anything you’ve seen. That’s all I can say… and you’re going to love it!

Recently, Spider-Man reboot writers John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein promised that the new live-action film won’t deliver another origin story, either. So that’s two new Spider-Man projects that won’t retell the story of how Peter Parker took up the web-slinging persona.

The young Han Solo standalone movie hits theaters on May 25, 2018, while the animated Spider-Man movie will follow on July 20, 2018.

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