Han and Chewie's On-Set Reunion Was Appropriately Warm and Fuzzy

Gwynne Watkins
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Han and Chewie have a special bond — even when the cameras aren’t rolling. Talking to Entertainment Weekly for the new cover story on Star Wars: The Force Awakens, producer Kathleen Kennedy described witnessing the warm reunion between Harrison Ford (Han Solo) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) after 32 years.

“We had a dinner and the whole cast was reunited just before we started shooting,” Kennedy recalled. “I had no idea how close Peter and Harrison were. And when Harrison came into the room and Peter was sitting down, he just went over and gave him the biggest hug, and you could just see that there had been this incredible relationship between these two.”

On set together for first time since 1983’s Return of the Jedi, Ford and Mayhew provoked Star Wars nostalgia in even the most seasoned crew members. “The minute Harrison and Chewie walked on board the Millennium Falcon — that was incredible,” Kennedy told EW. “Every single person on the set was stunned. I remember turning around, and there must have been 200 people gathered behind me — completely quiet. I didn’t even know they were there. The whole crew had stopped working, staring at the monitor, because it was so iconic.”

The Millennium Falcon set may have triggered the crew’s childhood memories, but it also caused the injury that sidelined Han Solo for weeks. Partway through production, a large piece of the ship came loose and fell on Ford, breaking his leg. Shooting was temporarily delayed, and writer-director J.J. Abrams expected to rewrite Solo’s scenes to involve a lot less action. But to his amazement, the 73-year-old actor bounced right back.

“In fact, there are some places where he’s more active than he was prior to the accident,” Abrams told the magazine. “As you’ll see in the movie, he is running and doing more physical activity in this movie than I think anyone who knows he was injured would expect. Nothing was adjusted or lessened because of that accident. Even for Harrison, who is famously resilient and strong, he blew everyone’s minds.”

Agreed co-screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan: “He apparently is an actual superhero.”

For more on Harrison Ford’s return to Star Wars, head over to EW.