It looks like Lucasfilm is dipping back into the old Star Wars Extended Universe canon for Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s upcoming Han Solo movie, with Woody Harrelson confirming to Variety that his mentor character is Garris Shrike.
Created by Ann C. Crispin for the 1997 book The Paradise Snare, Garris Shrike is a bounty hunter-turned-criminal who collected a group of orphans, using them for various confidence tricks and thefts, including a young Han Solo. Think of him as a kind of space Fagin to Han Solo’s Artful Dodger. The two would eventually have a falling out, with Shrike then setting out to track down Solo in order to collect the bounty placed on him by the Hutts.
It is of course unclear how much of the Legends canon will be used in the Han Solo movie, but it wouldn’t be too surprising if the core storyline remains pretty much intact.
UPDATE: Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo has responded to Woody’s comments on Twitter, suggesting that he was answering that he’s playing the mentor character, rather than Garris Shrike specifically…
https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/823329413429215232
The Han Solo movie will see Alden Ehrenreich taking on the title role alongside Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, Woody Harrelson as Han’s mentor and Emilia Clarke in as-yet-unrevealed role. It is set for release in 2018.
