Oh there is a disturbance in the Force….

Today Lucasfilm shook up the director’s chair on the untitled Han Solo spinoff film in ‘Star Wars’ series, bringing Hollywood veteran Ron Howard to take over the film after co-directors Phill Lord and Chris Miller jumped off the film. Lord and Miller reportedly left the prequel film which features the life of young Han Solo, due to ‘creative differences’ with the script written by Lawrence Kasdan, who worked on the pages of ‘Empire Strikes Back’, ‘Return of the Jedi’ and ‘The Force Awakens’. According to Polygon, the directing duo were straying too far from ‘a Star Wars movie’ with their approach.

EW reports that Lord and MIller were hired because their comedic touch, while the directors were apparently doing a straight up comedy film.

“At Lucasfilm, we believe the highest goal of each film is to delight, carrying forward the spirit of the saga that George Lucas began forty years ago,” said Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm in a statement on StarWars.com. “With that in mind, we’re thrilled to announce that Ron Howard will step in to direct the untitled Han Solo film. We have a wonderful script, an incredible cast and crew, and the absolute commitment to make a great movie. Filming will resume the 10th of July.”

According to multiple sources, this Han Solo film is three quarters of the way through production with room for possible re-shoots. It is interesting here how much influence Howard whose a proven movie winner with hits like ‘Apollo 13’ under his belt, with a limited window to close out production of the next anticipated Star Wars big screen adventure.