I might be off in Conspiracyville on this but here it goes. I once heard George Lucas mention in an interview that he told his father after American Graffiti had success that George's time as a teen dragracing on California backroads wasn't wasting time but research. In that movie Harrison Ford plays the guy with the best hotrod who blows everyone away, you know, the guy George wished he was. George drove around with a dog named Indiana, who inspired Chewbacca and a Nazi punching archaeologist's name. So, Harrison Ford plays both the guy who flies around the galaxy with Chewbacca and the Nazi punching guy, luckily Tom Selleck was busy solving crimes in Hawaii to accept the role.

At some point in the preproduction or production of Empire Strikes Back Harrison Ford suggests Solo should be killed but Lucas refuses. I'm beginning to think Han Solo is, like the guy Ford plays in Lucas' other movies, the imagined self of George Lucas. So in Force Awakens killing Han Solo is a metaphor for George leaving Lucasfilm and passing the franchises onto others, in fact most of Force Awakens could be viewed as changing of the guard. Unless I'm reading too much into this and need to get something to eat.

My understanding is that Ford refused to take the part for TFA unless they killed Han off. I'm fairly sure they would've kept him alive if they had the option.

That said Ford was not supposed to play Han Solo, because Lucas had a thing about not hiring actors he already worked with. Ford was actually working as a carpenter on the set and read the part for Solo just because they didn't have anyone else.

Before TFA there were rumors about Ford demanding Han Solo die in RotJ. There are rumors the Carbon Freezing in ESB happened because they didn't know if they sould get Ford for RotJ in the first place. There is anecdotal evidence in every case. Maybe Harrison Ford hates Star Wars; obviously something is more important to him (I'm guessing money.) I don't care.

I do care about the upcoming Han Solo film. I care because with every press release there is one more reason for me to dread the release of this movie. It's been confirmed the movie will feature Han meeting Chewie and obtaining the Falcon. This is the worst kind of prequel: the kind that tells a story the fans already know. I already know Chewie and Han are inseparable, I already know Lando lost the Falcon to Han. I don't need any more details. I want a Han Solo movie that shows me the scoundrel who shot first, with a story that hasn't already been told.

I wonder if they will steal the Death Star plans again.

Interesting theory. As I see it, you don't hear a lot of positive feedback from acting folk about Mr. Lucas. I imagine this has something to do with it.

Additionally, SW is huge and the acting folk had a tough time breaking public perception of them as they were branded by their role, rather themselves. The late Carrie Fisher would agree to do cameos, presentations, etc. on the condition SW/Leia were not mentioned.

I imagine these would some of the factors that would push actors away from the SW project.

Yes, some actors did break the typecast through previous/future works. Sir Alec Guiness, Peter Cushing, Harrison Ford.

If what I read is correct, Ford's biggest beef with Han Solo was that there was nowhere for the character to grow after he turned from a scoundrel to a hero and got the girl. The only thing Han could do to not be stagnant in ROTJ was to die thus showing that he had totally shed any inklings of keeping himself alive instead of his friends. Instead, we got him waiting around Endor for the fight to end so he could go to the Ewok buffet and try out the grilled stormtrooper steaks.

If Ford didn't like the character of Solo, he'd almost certainly have refused to come back for TFA unless his pilot insurance rates were digging too far into his savings. Guy just wanted Solo to go out on a selfless act instead of becoming the Kanan of the OT crew.

Has anyone seen the Kurt Russell/William Katt readings as Han and Luke? The production company thought Kurt Russell was a bit too 'Disney' to be first choice (see The Barefoot Executive, and The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes' to see what I mean).

Those two were pretty convincing, considering they really had no idea what they were actually reading. I remember reading something that Kurt was the first choice for Han Solo, then Lucas moved to Harrison Ford, but felt if Ford acted up too bad, he could be quickly replaced by Kurt Russell.

Snake Pliscin vs Han Solo vs Jack Burton... How cool would Kurt Russell have been if he hit the top three best hero characters for movies.

My point, which might have been poorly presented, was it is a coincidence that Ford played all three Lucas Mary-Sues. Which means Solo's death was metaphor for Lucas leaving the building. Regarding Lucas as writer/director, even his friend Steven Spielberg says he's a good editor.

Kurt Russell is Star Lord's Dad so he is fairly cool.

Thanks for the responses, sorry I didn't get back sooner.