Stars React to That Han Solo Moment in 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'

Harrison Ford’s role in Episode VII inspires red carpet chatter this award season (Film Frame/Lucasfilm via AP)

By Jeffrey Slonim

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been out for a nearly a month and grossed nearly $2 billion so far (and quickly counting), and yet we feel compelled to say this for the six people who have not gotten out to see it yet and still plan to: MAJOR SPOILER FOLLOWS. Got that, six people?

As the rest of the planet knows, the most seismic moment in Episode VII comes when the beloved Han Solo — who up until this point in the film has been just as charming as Harrison Ford was in the role 30 years ago — dies by the lightsaber of his Dark Sided son, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). [Insert Chewbacca moan here.] While touring the red carpets of awards season over the past couple of weeks — from the National Board of Review Gala in New York to L.A.’s BAFTA Tea, Art of Elysium Gala, and the Golden Globes — we stopped stars to ask how they felt to see their childhood hero die before their eyes. (We checked to make sure they’d seen the movie first. We’re not monsters, people!)

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Adam McKay, director and co-writer of The Big Short, offered kudos to J.J. Abrams at the National Board of Review Awards. “I actually thought it was awesome that they killed Han Solo,” he told Yahoo. “You’ve got to do a bold move like that. I loved that J.J. was smart enough to shake it up. It felt like the last three Star Wars were afraid, and I felt like this one was bold.”

McKay attended with his whole cast, including Finn Wittrock, The Big Short’s breakout hunk, who said, “Not that I saw it coming, but it didn’t surprise me wildly. I knew that one of them had to die when they were on that bridge, and I kind of knew that Adam Driver was going to be in the next installment. So I put two and two together. But that scene was probably my favorite in the movie.”

At BAFTA, producer Lawrence Bender told us, “I developed something with Harrison Ford years ago which was never made, so we know each other, and it was really wonderful to see him on screen. I was 100 percent hit in the gut when that happened. It was such a shock. He’s such a great guy and I’m really glad there weren’t any old people jokes in it.”

When we caught up with Jesse Metcalfe at the Art of Elysium fundraiser, he said that Ford was “great… he was very charismatic,” but seemed less phased than others. When prodded, he copped to being “a Luke Skywalker guy as a kid. I had all the toys. So that was really cool when Luke Skywalker came back at the very end, although they did stare at each other for a ridiculously long time. They really milked that moment.”

Related: ‘Star Wars’ Han Solo Spinoff: Actor Shortlist Revealed

But back to the pure Solo devotees. “I’m undone,” said Suits’ Sarah Rafferty, at BAFTA. “I went with my sister, and she was sitting right behind me, and I grabbed her and was like, 'No way.’ Why would I go to the rest of the movies? Tell me there is some way he can come back.”

She’s not the only one holding our hope for a resurrection. At the Golden Globes, nominee Patrick Stewart (Blunt Talk) told us, “I saw it on Christmas Day and I was shocked. I didn’t know it was going to happen. But my granddaughter was in tears. Lovely. But the thing about franchises, like Star Trek and X-Men: You don’t necessarily disappear. There is always a way back.”

Transparent’s Jeffrey Tambor — also a Globe nominee (he and Stewart watched Mozart in the Jungle’s Gael García Bernal take the prize in their category) — took his 11-year-old son to a preview, thus becoming “the coolest guy in the room.” And Tambor’s also ready to leave Han for dead forever. “There was a big groan in the audience. And I also told my son, it’s Star Wars. That doesn’t need to happen. He could come back.”

J.K. Simmons, last year’s Oscar and Golden Globes winner for Best Supporting Actor, however, is more realistic about Han’s future – or lack of it. “Initially, I thought, Oh, my God, did that just happen? And then I thought, Harrison probably just wanted to do one more movie, and now he’s out.”

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