Star Wars mania is everywhere, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is no exception. On Tuesday night’s episode, Colbert decided to continue “introducing great but lesser known projects” by promoting Star Wars: The Force Awakens. To do so, he aired a hilarious skit: the supposedly true story of how he and director J.J. Abrams tricked Harrison Ford into reprising his role as Han Solo for the film.
Colbert kicked off the video by reminding fans that The Force Awakens was bringing back the original trilogy’s stars: Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill. As exciting as the news is, the return of Ford was most exciting for Colbert. “For original Star Wars fans like me, Han Solo is the greatest,” he told viewers. “Without him, Luke would have ended up with his sister.” (Too true.)
From there, Colbert let the “exclusive footage” roll, showing Ford meeting Abrams in Los Angeles to talk about reprising the iconic role. Unfortunately for the director, Ford can barely remember what Star Wars is. “The space thing?” he says, once Abrams has brought up the film.
The duo’s conversation doesn’t look at all promising at first. For Ford, it’s a “been there, done that” kind of thing. It’s not until Colbert crashes their meeting, dressed like a poor imitation of Han and angling for the part, that Ford starts to see things differently. He quickly becomes defensive, appalled that Abrams even seems to be considering Colbert.
Colbert’s not ready to give up, though. “He needs options … think about somebody else for once, Harrison Ford!” the late night host says. To better make his case, he pulls out a whip and shows off his best moves. When he suggests that they play twin brothers, forming Han Duo, Ford has had enough. He storms off, only to return for his cell phone and to tell Abrams that he’s in.
Somehow, we don’t think the meeting went down quite as Colbert portrays it, but however it happened, it’s great for fans to see Ford as Han Solo once again.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens in theaters on December 18.
