--- title: Ron Howard Is New Director for Star Wars Han Solo Film description: Ron Howard will direct the untitled Han Solo movie, Lucasfilm announced Thursday. canonical: https://time.com/4828521/ron-howard-star-wars-han-solo/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-22T15:17:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:16:31.592Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Ron Howard Is Taking Over As Director of the Han Solo Movie og:description: After the previous directors left the hotly anticipated Star Wars spinoff og:url: https://time.com/4828521/ron-howard-star-wars-han-solo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ed6cc4598a8e758/6988d2d2e76ad20bb062e055/ron-howard-star-wars.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital's Kaleidoscope 5 - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ron Howard Is Taking Over As Director of the Han Solo Movie twitter:description: After the previous directors left the hotly anticipated Star Wars spinoff twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ed6cc4598a8e758/6988d2d2e76ad20bb062e055/ron-howard-star-wars.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ron Howard Is Taking Over As Director of the Han Solo Movie > Sponsored content. 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Jun 22, 2017 3:17 PM UTC Ron Howard will direct the untitled Han Solo movie after the [film’s original directors stepped down](http://time.com/4826075/star-wars-han-solo-phil-lord-christopher-miller-directors/) from the upcoming Star Wars spinoff over “creative differences,” production company Lucasfilm announced Thursday.. “We’re thrilled to announce that Ron Howard will step into direct the untitled Han Solo film,” Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said in a [statement](http://www.starwars.com/news/ron-howard-to-assume-directorial-duties-on-the-untitled-han-solo-film?cmp=smc%7C946758536). “We have a wonderful script, an incredible cast and crew, and the absolute commitment to make a great movie.” Howard, an Academy Award-winning filmmaker known for making classics like _A Beautiful Mind_ and _Apollo 13_, will take over directorial duties following Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s resignation from the film. Lord and Miller said they stepped down because their “vision and process weren’t aligned with our partners on this project,” in a [joint statement](http://www.starwars.com/news/a-message-from-lucasfilm-regarding-the-untitled-han-solo-film). The movie, which has been shooting since February, will resume filming on July 10, Kennedy said. It is still on track for a May 25, 2018 release. The [Han Solo movie](http://time.com/4677292/han-solo-spinoff-first-look-photo/) is a prequel that will focus on younger version of the character made iconic by Harrison Ford, this time played by Alden Ehrenreich. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4828521/ron-howard-star-wars-han-solo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4828521/ron-howard-star-wars-han-solo/"},"headline":"Ron Howard Is Taking Over As Director of the Han Solo Movie","datePublished":"2017-06-22T15:17:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:16:31.592Z","description":"After the previous directors left the hotly anticipated Star Wars spinoff","url":"https://time.com/4828521/ron-howard-star-wars-han-solo/","keywords":["movies","Star Wars topic","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ed6cc4598a8e758/6988d2d2e76ad20bb062e055/ron-howard-star-wars.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ed6cc4598a8e758/6988d2d2e76ad20bb062e055/ron-howard-star-wars.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital's Kaleidoscope 5 - Arrivals","caption":"UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital's Kaleidoscope 5 - Arrivals","creditText":"JB Lacroix—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4828521/ron-howard-star-wars-han-solo/","name":"Ron Howard Is Taking Over As Director of the Han Solo Movie"}}]}] ```