Solo: A Star Wars Story opens on the industrial planet of Corellia, where a young Han and his girlfriend Qi’ra are street-smart orphans working for Lady Proxima, a criminal gang leader. Han dreams of escaping to become a pilot. He manages to flee the planet during a daring escape, but Qi’ra is captured at the last moment, separating the two.
To escape and gain the skills he needs, Han enlists in the Imperial Navy, adopting the surname “Solo” after an Imperial officer asks him who his people are. His time with the Empire is rough—he’s demoted to infantry and sent to fight in a brutal ground war. This segment shows the Empire’s indifference to life and the chaos it creates across the galaxy.
On the battlefield, Han meets Tobias Beckett, a seasoned smuggler posing as a soldier. Han quickly realizes Beckett and his crew—Val and Rio Durant—are planning a heist. After being thrown into a pit with Chewbacca, whom the Empire keeps as a “beast,” Han forms a bond with the Wookiee, and they escape together, joining Beckett’s crew.
Beckett’s crew attempts a high-stakes train heist on Vandor-1 to steal valuable coaxium (a rare hyperspace fuel). However, they’re ambushed by a group of marauders known as Enfys Nest’s Cloud-Riders. The mission fails, and both Val and Rio are killed. Beckett reveals the job was for Dryden Vos, a high-ranking figure in the Crimson Dawn syndicate.
The crew travels to meet Dryden Vos aboard his luxurious yacht. There, Han is shocked to see Qi’ra alive—and now working for Vos. She’s risen in Crimson Dawn and agrees to help with a new plan: stealing unrefined coaxium from the mines of Kessel. Vos warns that failure will mean death.
To pull off the Kessel job, they need a fast ship. Enter Lando Calrissian, charming gambler and captain of the Millennium Falcon. After some suave negotiations and a rigged game of sabacc, Han and Lando strike a deal. We also meet L3-37, Lando’s outspoken, droid-rights activist co-pilot.
The heist on Kessel is chaotic but successful. L3 starts a droid uprising during the mission but is mortally damaged. Chewbacca helps free enslaved Wookiees. With the Falcon barely operational and Imperial forces closing in, Han famously completes the Kessel Run in “less than twelve parsecs” (by rounding down), solidifying his legend.
They land on Savareen to refine the coaxium. Enfys Nest reappears—but reveals she’s not a villain. She’s part of an early rebellion fighting against crime syndicates and the Empire. Han sympathizes. He devises a plan to trick Dryden Vos, giving him fake coaxium while delivering the real stuff to Enfys.
Back on Vos’s yacht, Han and Qi’ra’s plan seems to falter when Vos reveals he’s a step ahead—but Beckett double-crosses everyone to take the coaxium for himself. In the ensuing fight, Han kills Vos. Qi’ra urges Han to chase Beckett while she stays behind, seemingly out of loyalty.
After Han leaves, Qi’ra reveals her true intentions. She contacts Darth Maul, the true leader of Crimson Dawn. This twist ties the movie to The Phantom Menace and the Clone Wars series, where Maul survived and took over major crime syndicates. Qi’ra ascends further in the underworld, suggesting a darker path ahead.
Han catches up to Beckett in a standoff. In a crucial moment that defines his future, Han shoots Beckett first—a nod to the infamous “Han shot first” debate from the original trilogy. Beckett dies, and Han walks away with a heavy heart but clearer conscience.
At the end, Han turns down an offer to join Enfys’s proto-Rebellion, suggesting he’s not ready for causes. He and Chewie set out for a new life. In a final sabacc rematch, Han wins the Falcon from Lando fair and square, establishing himself as the ship’s rightful captain.
Through Enfys Nest, the film plants early seeds of the Rebellion, which will later become the Alliance seen in Rogue One and A New Hope. The coaxium she receives is implied to fund future resistance efforts, showing that even Han’s smuggling has unintended revolutionary consequences.
Solo expands on the Star Wars underworld in a way few films have, exploring crime syndicates like Crimson Dawn and establishing a vast criminal network beneath the surface of the Empire. This enriches the galaxy and opens up possibilities for future stories (The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett build on these threads).
The film shows Han’s transformation from an idealistic, love-driven dreamer to a more cynical rogue. Yet his core decency remains intact, seen in his desire to help Qi’ra and Enfys. It deepens our understanding of the Han we meet in A New Hope—someone jaded, but not without a heart.
While Solo had a rocky production and mixed box office performance, it delivers an entertaining and meaningful origin for one of the franchise’s most iconic characters. It enriches Han’s backstory, provides emotional stakes, and connects key pieces of lore—from Maul’s criminal empire to the Rebellion’s early days. It may not soar to the heights of the saga films, but it earns its place in the galaxy far, far away.