Young Han Solo Movie in Need of a Director

In a shocking move, Lucasfilm has removed Phil Lord and Christopher Miller as the directors of the Untitled Han Solo movie, four months after principal photography began on the spinoff prequel to Star Wars. In a statement, Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, said:

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are talented filmmakers who have assembled an incredible cast and crew, but it’s become clear that we had different creative visions on this film, and we’ve decided to part ways. A new director will be announced soon.

The announcement was made with “several weeks left on the shoot,” in addition to reshoots scheduled for later in the summer. According to Lord and Miller, the “cliché is true,” regarding their inability to reconcile their vision for the film with Lucasfilm.

Unfortunately, our vision and process weren’t aligned with our partners on this project. … We are really proud of the amazing and world-class work of our cast and crew.

It’s impossible to decipher from the timing of the move by Lucasilm or the statements released from both parties what went wrong, but there’s no way a shake-up like this so late in production won’t have a profound effect on the movie. Hopefully, we’ll be able to glean a little more insight into the move once a new director has been announced.

The Untitled Han Solo movie is slated for release in 2018.