Why I'm thrilled with the casting of Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo

Alden Ehrenreich

We finally have our official young Han Solo, and it's up-and-coming character actor Alden Ehrenreich.

Producers were looking at a whole slew up young heartthrobs for this role, some of which were all wrong (Miles Teller) and others seemed like they could work (Taron Egerton).

Although I haven't seen a ton of Ehrenreich's work (he is starring in Warren Beatty's long delayed, upcoming Howard Hughes biopic), I am thrilled with this casting choice.

Like most filmgoers, I saw Ehrenreich for the first time in the vastly underrated Coen Brothers movie Hail Caesar.

Although that movie boasted charismatic star turns from A-listers like George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, it was Ehrenreich who stole the show for me as a dim but sweet star of western movies who gets thrust into a classy prestige drama at the last minute and can't find his footing.

Ehrenreich showed a knack for playing comedy, but he was also very likable and instantly memorable, kind of like Harrison Ford when he first sauntered onto the screen in the first Star Wars film almost 40 years ago.

I can't say that I immediately thought -- 'he'd make a great Han Solo' -- but when I heard he was being considered for the role, I certainly didn't balk either.

He's also 26 years old which is just about right for what this role calls for. Even though he looked far younger, Harrison Ford was actually 35 the first time he played Han Solo. So if this sidebar Star Wars film about Solo's exploits as a youth is going to cover how he obtained the Millennium Falcon, the legendary Kessel Run and more, Ehrenreich seems to be the appropriate age for it.

Also, because he is still relatively unknown, he doesn't bring any kind of baggage to the role that other actors might have brought. There was a period where Chris Pratt was being rumored for this part. I get it, he channeled Ford in Guardians of the Galaxy in particular, and I am a fan. But he would have been all wrong for this (and Indiana Jones, too, I might add). He is too old and too well-known to seamlessly fill the Solo vest.

That's what she said ...

I am seriously impressed with how well the new caretakers of the Star Wars franchise have navigated their new series of films. After George Lucas spent nearly a decade tarnishing the empire that he built, it's refreshing to see that real thought is being put into the casting and crafting of these new films.

And it makes perfect sense. Star Wars is an American institution at this point. The movies will make tons of money whether they are good or bad (again, look at the prequels -- or better, don't). So why not put as much effort as possible into making them actually good.

It'll still be weird for me to see anyone but Harrison Ford in this role. There will always be something about it that just doesn't feel right. I certainly hope that Ehrenreich will make some effort to emulate his mannerisms as the character if not outright imitate his iconic gravelly voice.

But father time, mortality and Ford's own reluctance to ever reprise the character again made this, I guess, a necessary evil. And any die hard Star Wars fan like me has to be at least intrigued by the prospects of having many mysteries about the character resolved and illuminated.

Unfortunately, we'll have to wait until 2018 to see the finished product, but this casting news definitely has me on board.