I really hope they don't try to explain everything, maybe even anything. I'll give them a pass for one major item such as the Kessel run, obtaining the Falcon, or teaming up with Chewie. There are two reasons.
First, Han is a romantic, mysterious character, like the drifter who rides into a western town as a force for good or evil, but we don't know which until he acts. Giving him a thorough biography kills that. I think it's important for deep worlds to have loose ends. It's impossible for us to know everything that happened in a real world, so the world feels smaller and smaller as the mysteries are solved. Much more so with Han, whose whole point as a character is the unpredictability which rises from the many unexplained references to nefarious incidents in his shrouded past.
Second, 100 minutes showing stuff we already know about is kind of boring. In Rogue One we already had a movie dedicated entirely to fan service and filling in the blanks. I didn't like it all that much and have had no desire to rewatch. It was choppy and they didn't have time for all the stuff they tried to cram in. The characters and story suffered for being placed second to narrative objectives that the audience already knows. Time runs forward for a reason, true prequels will always be tough.
First, Han is a romantic, mysterious character, like the drifter who rides into a western town as a force for good or evil, but we don't know which until he acts. Giving him a thorough biography kills that. I think it's important for deep worlds to have loose ends. It's impossible for us to know everything that happened in a real world, so the world feels smaller and smaller as the mysteries are solved. Much more so with Han, whose whole point as a character is the unpredictability which rises from the many unexplained references to nefarious incidents in his shrouded past.
Second, 100 minutes showing stuff we already know about is kind of boring. In Rogue One we already had a movie dedicated entirely to fan service and filling in the blanks. I didn't like it all that much and have had no desire to rewatch. It was choppy and they didn't have time for all the stuff they tried to cram in. The characters and story suffered for being placed second to narrative objectives that the audience already knows. Time runs forward for a reason, true prequels will always be tough.
