Han Solo movie: Michael Kenneth Williams cut from Ron Howard's version

'It is what it is'

Williams as Omar Little in HBO's The Wire

Ever since Disney fired original Han Solo directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, fans have been venting their worries online regarding the spin-off.

How many changes new director Ron Howard has made remains to be seen, but one of the most notable includes having to lose Michael Kenneth Williams from the cast.

“I felt great about what I created with the directors that I worked with,” Williams told Deadline regarding working with the original duo. “It is what it is.”

“When Ron Howard got hired to finish out the film, there were some reshoot issues that needed to be done in regards to my character, in order for it to match the new direction which the producers wanted Ron to carry the film in,” Williams continued.

“And that would have required me on a plane a month ago to London, to Pinewood, to do reshoots. But I’m here, on location in Africa. It’s scheduling. I’m not going to be back on the market until the end of November after [Sundance TV series] Hap and Leonard, and for them to wait that long for me, that would have pushed back the release date, which I believe is in May 2018. They wanted me now; I couldn’t go. So they had to clip-clip-clip.”

Williams was set to play a half-human, half-animal, described by the actor as a “kick-ass character”. The actor added how, despite being cut, he hopes to rejoin the Star Wars family at some stage as working with them was a joy.

Miller and Lord left the production towards the end of original shooting, citing creative differences with LucasFilm and Disney.

The spin-off looks set for a 25 May 2018 release, with Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton and Phoebe Waller-Bridge still set to star.