Star Wars legend Harrison Ford isn’t completely closing the door on a return to the franchise, but he strongly suggests he would prefer his days as Han Solo ended with the character’s demise in The Force Awakens.

One of the biggest movie stars of the late 20th century, Ford first gained fame in the original Star Wars trilogy, a franchise he was notoriously ambivalent about for the majority of his career. In recent years, Ford has had something of a late career renaissance as he’s become open to revisiting some of his most iconic roles, including Rick Deckard in the upcoming Blade Runner 2049 opposite Ryan Gosling. He returned to the role of Indiana Jones in 2008 in the financially successful (but underwhelming) Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Krystal Skull. And to the delight and shock of Star Wars fans, he signed on to J.J. Abrams’ continuation of the franchise that made him a household name with The Force Awakens in 2015.

And while Ford hasn’t quite closed the door completely on another Star Wars appearance, it’s pretty clear he’s reluctant to revisit a galaxy far, far away. In a wide ranging interview with GQ, the topic of his Star Wars return comes up, with Ford reiterating he originally wanted Han Solo killed off in Return of the Jedi, and the idea of finally filming Han Solo’s demise appealed to him. Ford acknowledges that there’s more than a little precedent for dead characters making appearances in Star Wars movies, but he seems decidedly unenthused at the prospect:


GQ: When it comes to ‘Star Wars’, given the nature of science fiction, are you absolutely, incontrovertibly—

Ford: Dead?

GQ: —finished with ‘Star Wars’?

Ford: Um, I mean, I’m finished with Star Wars if Star Wars is finished with me.

GQ: And if ‘Star Wars’ isn’t finished with you?

Ford: I can’t imagine it. But it is science fiction. I’d rather not. You know, at this point I’d rather do something else. Just because it’s more interesting to do something new.
This should surprise essentially no one familiar with Ford’s history with Star Wars. While he’s always had a childlike enthusiasm for Indiana Jones and has offered deeply thoughtful insight into the events of Blade Runner, Ford has always viewed Star Wars with a certain level of bemused reluctance. Ford seems perfectly happy to let Alden Ehrenreich take up the mantle of Chewbacca’s co-pilot from hereon out (staring with the young Han Solo movie due out next year), while he prepares to crack Indiana Jones’ whip one more time.

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