Is Han Solo really dead?
As the captain of the Millennium Falcon, Han Solo was one of the great leaders of the Rebel Alliance. Audiences were shocked in December when the character was killed by his son, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Ahead of the film's released on Digital HD Apr. 1 and DVD and Blu-ray Apr. 5, Harrison Ford stopped by ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! Monday and joked about leaving the franchise. "You work for like 25 years for the company. You do your best," the actor said. "You show up every day, you do your job, and then they just let you go."
Host Jimmy Kimmel joked, "In this case, they actually killed you."
"Shocking!" Ford said with a smirk. "Shocking!"
In reality, he said, "I argued for 30 years for this to happen, and finally I wore 'em down."
"So, you won't be in any of the other movies?" Kimmel asked.
"Who said that?" Ford said teasingly. "Who made you the boss?" Kimmel pressed his guest for an answer, asking, "Do you know if the character Han Solo will continue, or do you not know?"
"That's a good question, right?" Ford replied.
"Interesting," Kimmel said. "I have no idea what to make of your answer."
Ford said it was "pretty amazing" that news of Han's death didn't leak even after the movie arrived in theaters on Dec. 18, 2015. "People sort of respected their fellow audience members to the extent that it didn't get around," he said. Kimmel argued that "people knew that they would actually get killed if they revealed the ending of the movie," to which Ford jokingly replied, "I think they knew that I would show up at their house and beat the s--t out of them."
Kimmel also asked Ford about his return to the Indiana Jones franchise. Last week, Walt Disney Studios announced that the fifth installment in the series will hit theaters on July 19, 2019. Steven Spielberg, who directed the first four films, is back, too. "I'm excited about it," Ford said.
"Did you demand that they kill Indiana Jones?" Kimmel asked.
"I haven't read the script!" Ford said. "I'm talking about the contract!"
Sensing the audience's shock, he clarified, "We're here to kid around."
Ford revealed that he jumped at "the opportunity to work with Steven again," adding, "It's fun. It's great fun to play this character. It's great fun to work with Steven. I'm looking forward to it." Pressed for script details, Ford told Kimmel, "Sure. I can tell you the whole thing that happens."