The Road to Episode Infinity: Who is Garris Shrike? (and was Han in Episode III?)

"Besides…if you shoot me, boy, you'll never find out about your parents. Who they were…why you wound up being dumped into those alleys where I found you.”

~Garris Shrike

There has been a lot of buzz recently about Woody Harrelson playing Garris Shrike in the new “Young Han Solo” film that will be releasing in 2018. Before we can even start to guess at whether Harrelson will be playing Garris Shrike, let’s answer the question “Who is Garris Shrike”?

Shrike was created for the book “The Paradise Snare” by author Ann Carol Crispin. When she had been contracted to write a book about Han Solo’s younger years, she asked Lucasfilm about the youth of the famous smuggler. The authorities at Lucasfilm at the time informed her that a gang of thieves had raised Solo and had forced him into a life of crime. Crispin created Garris Shrike to be the leader of that gang.

Han Solo wasn’t the only backstory Crispin tackled during her career. She also wrote a backstory for Jack Sparrow in her novel “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom” featuring his father “Captain Teague” (Played by Keith Richards in the films). In addition, Crispin wrote many Star Trek novels including “Sarek” a novel which is centered on the father of Spock.

Back to Garris Shrike. In “The Paradise Snare”, Shrike is leader of a clan called “Trader’s Luck”. In the novel, Shrike finds a two-year-old Han Solo, begging in the streets and takes him in. Shrike collects orphans in the same way that Fagin, the villain of Oliver Twist collects orphans. That is to say that Shrike builds his clan of orphans from the ground up and uses them in heists and cons.

There is an episode of “Lost” called “All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues,” and Han Solo is no different. Solo refuses to be controlled by Shrike and attempts to run away several times. At the age of 19, a final showdown between Shrike and Solo finally took place atop the skyscrapers of Coruscant. The confrontation resulted in Shrike’s death and Han Solo went off to study at the Imperial Academy. And that’s basically the story of Garris Shrike.

In January 2017, an interviewer from Variety asked Harrelson if could confirm that he was playing Han Solo’s mentor, Garris Shrike. After some moments of confusion and clarification, Harrelson says “yeah… I am” to the question, but it is unclear if he actually understood what was being asked. Would Harrelson even know the name of his character during the preproduction stage? If he has read a script, maybe… but even that is doubtful.

At this point it is safe to say that Harrelson is in the “Young Han Solo” film. It might even be likely that he will be playing a mentor to Han Solo. Whether or not Lucasfilm is digging up the Garris Shrike character-name from “The Paradise Snare” is another question all together. So far the only character that Disney has resurrected from the old Expanded Universe is Grand Admiral Thrawn… and that was for a cartoon series, not for one of the theatrical films.

Pablo Hidalgo (Keeper of Canon at Lucasfilm) in response to this interview tweeted out “I'll let others sort it out, but ask yourself - what question was he answering?" This implies that Harrelson is not actually playing a character named “Garris Shrike” or at least that Lucasfilm is not ready to confirm this.

Anne Carol Crispin’s Han Solo backstory plot is part of the old Expanded Universe and is no longer part of the Star Wars canon. But there is another potential young Han Solo storyline that came from George Lucas himself. In early drafts of Revenge of the Sith, a 10-year-old Han Solo was set to appear. In this version of Han Solo’s childhood he is on Kashyyyk and Chewbacca is his father figure. The young solo helps Yoda with a bit of technical support in hunting down General Grevious.

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

~Young Han

“Good, good. Track this we can back to the source. Find General Grievous, we might…”

~Yoda

Needless to say, this shoehorning of Han Solo would have certainly created backlash among fans. Are we really supposed to believe that Chewbacca is Han’s adopted father? Lucas must have came to his senses, or perhaps someone else convinced him to scrap it.

The Young Han Solo film releases in 2018, and it will be the first time we see Han Solo played by someone other than Harrison Ford. It’s hard to know what to expect from the 2nd non-episodic Star Wars film, and at this point the Garris Shrike character has not been officially confirmed or denied.