Entertainment

This Brand-New 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' Clip Solves A Mystery About Chewbacca

by Emily Mae Czachor
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Who else had a ton of questions after watching last month's trailer for Solo: A Star Wars Story? Expanding on one especially noteworthy tidbit, a brand-new clip from Solo: A Star Wars Story focuses on the age of one of the franchise's most beloved characters. Ahead of its May 25 release, the film teased fans with brief one-minute footage from the upcoming movie, which sheds more light on one element of its official Solo full-length trailer that had Star Wars aficionados buzzing back in April. That particularly mind-boggling detail — as vigilant fans of the intergalactic franchise likely already know — is Chewbacca's age.

With the release of its full-length trailer, which first graced the internet April 8, Solo: A Star Wars Story teased its doting fanbase with a pretty big reveal, one that finally offered inquisitive viewers more insight into an age-old question that's been circulating the franchise for years: How old is Chewbacca? The moment was pretty fleeting, wrapped up in a split-second exchange between Alden Ehrenreich's Han Solo and his larger-than-life-sized furry companion (voiced by Joonas Suotamo).

Per the characters' quick exchange, Star Wars fans learned that Chewbacca is 190 years old when the Solo film takes place. (As for this latest Star Wars installment's place in the franchise's famously bewildering timeline, one of Bustle's previous stories provides a thorough analysis and concluded that Solo fits in about mid-way between Episode III and Episode IV.)

Unsurprisingly, the initial trailer's age reveal conjured up some serious hubbub on Twitter, where fans and media personnel alike discussed Chewy's recently unveiled age and its implications on the franchise's overall timeline. Given the buzz concerning just how old Chewy really is, it seems fitting that the film's proximate teaser clip primarily serves to expand upon the newly minted piece of information about everyone's favorite Wookiee.

The most recent teaser video — which was released Friday morning, May 4 — provides viewers with a larger chunk of the same scene it incorporated into the full-length trailer, wherein the quick age-related interaction between Solo and Chewbacca takes place. The new clip sees Solo and Qi'ra (played by Emilia Clarke) manning the pilot and co-pilot's seats, respectively, in what appears to be the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, the pair's now-iconic spacecraft. The dimly lit scene opens with the pair in a pretty serious rut — a rut of cosmic proportions, as tends to be the case when it comes to the intergalactic battles weathered by so much of the Star Wars crew.

When Solo and Qi'ra find themselves in the midst of some menacing outer-space aggressors, they panic, seemingly at a loss for what exactly their next move should be. As if right on cue, Chewbacca (who'd previously been relegated to the back corner of the Falcon's cockpit) steps in to intervene. After assuredly pressing a whole medley of buttons along the cockpit's dashboard — ostensibly bettering the trio's in-flight situation — Solo turns to him with a surprised expression.

When he promptly inquires about how on earth (or alternatively, not on earth at all) the giant Wookiee learned how to pilot a spacecraft, Chewbacca reminds his human friend that he's been around for nearly two centuries. It seems pretty safe to say that's time enough to hone some miscellaneous skills.

"Since when do you know how to fly?" Solo asks Chewy in the new teaser. His furry friend responds matter-of-factly, albeit, in Wookiee-speak. And, while us viewers might not be able to understand his reply, Solo sure did. "190 years old?" Solo quips, "You look great!"

It's probably safe to say that, as far as 190-year-old creatures go, Chewbacca certainly tops the list of the universe's most beloved. Not to mention — as Friday's clip doubly confirms — the most heroic.