Soloobviously takes place beforeA New Hope. However, we weren’t sure where exactly it takes place in the officialStar Warstimeline. Now, we know where it fits into the grand scheme of things and it will not end as close asRogue Onedid to the original trilogy nor will it butt directly against the beginning of the aforementioned prequel. The timeline has become an important piece of information forStar Warsfans, especially since all of the new trilogies have been announced.
It had been previously reported that a bunch of tie-inSolobooks are being released ahead of the movie. Some of which tell the story before the events of the upcoming big screen adventure, while others like The Last Shot, jump around from before, during, and even as far as after the events ofReturn of the Jedi. It’s been announced that all of the recently unveiled books will be a part of theofficial Star Wars canon, therefore making them a part of the official timeline as well.
The publisher, Del Ray, has put out a number ofofficial Star Wars booksover the years and they are responsible for the newSolo: A Star Wars Storybooks as well. The Del Ray website was recently updated to place the new books into theStar Warstimeline and both The Last Shot andSolobooks take place after James Luceno’s Tarkin novel, which is set 14 years beforeA New Hope. This falls in line with what had been previously reported and means that the movie will take place well in advance ofRogue OneandA New Hope.
Disney CEO Bob Eiger had previously revealed thatSolowould span the course of 6 years of young Han Solo’s life, from the ages of 18 to 24. Since Han is around 29-years old at the time ofA New Hope, that would mean that the upcoming movie starts about 11 years ahead of the original trilogy and ends 5 years before the events inRogue One. So, we will not see anything like we did when the last spin-off hit the big screen in terms of how closely it tied intoA New Hope. This also means that the movie takes place before theRebel Alliancewas any type threat to the then hugely powerful Galactic Empire.
With the open timeline in between the events ofSolo: A Star Wars StoryandA New Hope, the door is open for Disney and Lucasfilm to tellmore storiesthat take place in between both movies. It will be interesting to see where theObi-Wanmovie fits into the officialStar Warstimeline as well as where Rian Johnson andDavid Benioff and D.B. Weissdecide to go with their new movies that will take place outside of the Skywalker saga. You can check out whereSolo: A Star Wars Storyfits into the officialStar Warstimeline over atRandomhouse.
