You have to hand it to Ron Howard for handling the Han Solo Star Wars spinoff as well as he is. For one thing, he is a bit more transparent, giving fans a look at everything that is going on behind the scenes, even he is releasing meaningless photos of craft food services. But for what it’s worth we are getting better looks at the set than we ever did before. But these reshoots have forced Michael K. William‘s character to be cut out of the entire film. While we knew he would have played “a half-human, half-animal” who was a “kick-ass character,” cutting his character seemed to indicate it wasn’t of major significance.

However, it appears that the character does hold some weight in the film. So much so that Howard turned to a reliable friend to act as William’s replacement. With a few caveats of course. That actor is a Beautiful Mind star Paul Bettany, whom you may know as Vision in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. More on the story below.

Howard first posted an image of himself and Bettany while on the set of the still untitled Han Solo spinoff (it might as well just be called that). Though Howard’s tweet did not mention that Bettany would be in the film, sources close to /Film say that he is being brought in to play the character once played by Williams. However, the character will now be a human. A bit of a disappointing turn of events.

While it was sad to see Williams be cut, Bettany is a great choice to replace him. But him playing a full human instead of that “kick-ass character” who was a “half-human, half-animal” is unfortunate. Here’s the tweet:

The Outer Rim just got a little bit wilder #PaulBettany #ForceFriday pic.twitter.com/KzuAwhcIXy

— Ron Howard (@RealRonHoward) September 1, 2017

So who knows what Phil Lord and Chris Miller had in mind before they were let go earlier this year. We’ve seen some pretty creative ideas from them in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and The LEGO Movie. But in keeping the character, it appears there wasn’t enough time for ILM to adjust to the new changes. So rather than spend what they don’t have, they just cut the visual effects cost and went with Bettany’s character as a human.

It’s hard to say how “kick-ass” William’s character would have been had he been able to make the reshoots, and we won’t fault him for that because he has other obligations. But the fact that Howard says “The Outer Rim just got a little bit wilder,” tells us this mysterious character likes to play by his own set of rules.

The untitled Han Solo spinoff stars Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo, Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, and Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, and Thandie Newton as new characters. The film is scheduled to open in theaters on May 25, 2018.

[Source: /Film]