Last December, it was reported that over 2,500 actors auditioned for the role of young Han Solo in the untitled Star Wars Han Solo spinoff from The LEGO Movie directors Christopher Miller and Phil Lord. The expectations are high to find the right person to fill the role considering how iconic the legendary smuggler is in the Star Wars universe.

Filming isn’t expected to begin until 2017, yet Disney and Lucasfilm are looking for actors this early on. And there is a reason for that. Apparently, they want to have the role cast so that Han Solo can make a cameo appearance in another Star Wars spinoff film. According to a new report, the list of 2,500 actors auditioning for the role has been reduced to a mere dozen. Check out who they are looking at and which spinoff Han Solo could appear in here below.

Variety says that Miles Teller (Whiplash, Fantastic Four), Ansel Elgort (The Faults In Our Stars, Insurgent), Dave Franco (Dave Franco), Jack Reynor (Transformers: Age Of Extinction, MacBeth), Scott Eastwood (Suicide Squad, The Longest Ride) Logan Lerman (Fury, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower), Emory Cohen (Brooklyn, The Place Beyond The Pines), and Blake Jenner (Everybody Wants Some) are all of the major names who are now on the shortlist.

The report says that the untitled Han Solo spinoff isn’t expected to begin lensing until January 2017, but insiders say that the reason why they are looking into casting the role this soon is because he may have a role in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story before he stars in his own film.

Now the cameo information is unconfirmed, since no one at the studio has made a comment. But what is confirmed is that Lord, Miller, and producer Kathleen Kennedy are expected to test the actors on the shortlist before making their final decision in the next few weeks.

Assuming that the cameo rumor is true, they would have to cast soon as Rogue One has one more month of shooting left before its December 2016 release. And if this happens it would help establish an age appropriate Han Solo for both films. If you think you’ve heard of this before, it’s because it is the same strategy that Disney and Marvel used when they cast Tom Holland as Spider-Man, who will make a cameo appearance in Captain America: Civil War before making a full appearance in his own untitled film.

The ages of the first massive wave of actors who were under consideration ranged from 16-year-old Chandler Riggs (The Walking Dead) to 30-year-old star Rami Malek (Mr. Robot). Now Disney and Lucasfilm seem to be zeroing in on actors between the ages of 20 to 25.

[Source: Variety]