This has been a whirlwind couple of days as the directing team of Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired on Tuesday from the Star Wars Han Solo spinoff film, with only weeks left in production. While the directors and Kathleen Kennedy both cited "creative differences" as the reason for parting ways, there were reports that this was not a mutual decision and that the directing team were fired because of their creative choices. When the initial news of this came out, there were rumors that the studio wanted Ron Howard to take over. That is now official, as he will assume the role of director for this possibly troubled project.
He is expected to begin immediately, with only several weeks of production remaining, along with five weeks of reshoot scheduled for later this year. It is uncertain how much extra time it will take to complete the film, or how much will be altered script wise by Howard. It is also unknown how the movie will be credited, if it will be shared by all three or some other fashion. That is ultimately up to the Directors Guild of America. Howard is a dramatic shift from young, hot directors to an established name. He previously worked with Lucasfilm on Willow, so he does have an existing relationship with Kathleen Kennedy and the company. The only issue with Howard is that his most recent projects have been financial failures, which includes Inferno, In the Heart of the Sea, Rush, and The Dilemma.