See Lucasfilm's Concept Art Of Young Han Solo

Yesterday Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed that Disney and Lucasfilm were also developing stand-alone character-centric spin-off Star Wars films in addition to the previously announced third trilogy of the Skywalker saga (Episodes VII-IV).

Earlier today it was revealed that one of the spin-off standalone movies would follow a young Han Solo, set between Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Episode IV: A New Hope.

What would young Han Solo even look like? We might have a good idea, as Lucasfilm created concept designs of the character in the early 2000s for a brief segment that was cut from Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Thats right, young Han Solo was originally set to appear in the last Star Wars prequel. Art, details and more after the jump.

George Lucas wanted to include a young Han Solo in Revenge of the Sith, but due to the timeline of that film, the character was only to be about ten years old. This idea made it far along in the development process. He appeared, complete with dialogue, in the Kashyyyk battle scenes of the rough draft of the screenplay. Lucasfilm even had concept art approved. Solo's role was to be a helpful kid who helps find the elusive General Grievous' location.

Concept artist Iain McCaig talks about his contribution which never made it into the final film, in the officially licensed Lucasfilm book The Art of Revenge of the Sith (whole page available in scanned form here):

It's not in the script anymore, but we were told that Han Solo was on Kashyyyk and that he was being raised by Chewbacca. He's such a persnickety guy later on – he always has to have the best of everything – so I thought it'd be great if when he was a kid, he was an absolute slob.

Solo's one line appears in the script as follows:

HAN SOLO

I found part of a transmitter droid near the east bay... I think it's still sending and receiving signals.

YODA

Good. Good. Track this we can back to the source. Find General Grievous, we might...

Solo and Yoda then track the signal to Utapau and locate Grievous. StarWars.com points out that this addition "slightly goes against" the extended universe backstory that "Solo saved Chewbacca from slavery while in the navy." Solo's brief moment was dropped some time after the first draft of the screenplay was completed. To me the moment feels like a cameo for the sake of a cameo and nothing else, so I'm glad it wasn't used.

I'm guessing the Star Wars spin-off movie currently in development would probably feature an older Solo, in his late teens or early 20's.

There are also some fan art versions of what a young Han Solo might look like. Italian artist Cosimo Carusi created this piece:

And of course, artist James Hance's younger cute Winnie the Pooh mash-up series "Wookie The Chew":

Or Agnes Garbowska's anime-inspired take:

Thanks to /Film reader Manabyte for the tip.