Lucasfilm
Harrison Ford returns as Han Solo in "The Force Awakens."
When people think of "Star Wars," George Lucas is usually the first name that comes to mind.
However, let's not forget about Lawrence Kasdan.
Screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan is responsible for some of the greatest entries in the "Star Wars" franchise. Kasdan is credited as a co-writer for both "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi." The 1980s were clearly a very good decade for him: he also wrote the screenplay for "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
Getty Images
Lawrence Kasdan co-wrote "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi." He returns for "The Force Awakens" and the Han Solo standalone movie.
In LucasFilm's massive push to return the franchise to its former glory, Kasdan has been brought on board for both "The Force Awakens" and the upcoming Han Solo spin-off film.
However, according to Entertainment Weekly, Kasdan actually turned down an offer to work on the original "Star Wars" prequels. However, the Han Solo project intrigued him.
"They said, 'Here are the things that we'd like to make movies about,' and I said, 'Oh, well, Han Solo. I would write a movie about Han Solo. He's always been my favorite.' And that's the job that I took," Kasdan told EW.
The presence of Ford in "The Force Awakens" might have made Kasdan want to come back to the franchise, given that he co-wrote two of the actors' most iconic roles.
Paramount via YouTube
Kasdan has a long history with Harrison Ford and George Lucas. He also wrote "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
However, writing two "Star Wars" films at once is a tricky endeavor. So, Kasdan sought out someone to help him out. He decided to recruit his son Jon.
"Since I did not expect to be sidetracked like this, when I came back to it I said to [Lucasfilm president] Kathy [Kennedy], you know, I would like Jon to write this with me," Kasdan said. "I could use some inspiration and Jon is really good, and he's full of energy for the project, and I said, I think Jon would be a good one to do this. And we went forward that way."
While this is the first major feature Jon has worked on, he still has a few solid credits to his name. He wrote and directed 2007's "In the Land of Women" and 2012's "The First Time." He also wrote for the show "Dawson's Creek" and is credited with story and teleplay for the "Freaks and Geeks" episode "The Little Things."
Getty Images Lawrence Kasdan's sons Jake and Jon. Jon is co-writing the Han Solo movie with his father.
The Kasdan family has a surprisingly strong hold on Hollywood. Kasdan's other son, Jake, has made a name for himself as a comedy director, working on TV shows such as "New Girl" and "Freaks and Geeks" and the great, underrated "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story."
The still untitled Han Solo standalone movie will be out in theaters on May 25, 2018. "The Force Awakens" will be out in theaters on December 18.