Harrison Ford is "open" to reprising his role as Han Solo in the new Star Wars trilogy almost three decades after last playing the part in 1983's Return of the Jedi, it has been reported.

Entertainment Weekly quoted a source "close to Ford" suggesting the 70-year-old actor is enthusiastic about returning for the latest triptych of films, the first of which is due to arrive in cinemas for 2015 following Disney's $4.05bn (£2.5bn) purchase of creator George Lucas's LucasFilm production company. A charismatic space smuggler who appeared in all three of the original films between 1977 and 1983, Solo is one of the three Star Wars lead roles alongside Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker and Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia.

"Harrison is open to the idea of doing the movie and he's upbeat about it – all three of them are," said the "highly placed" source. Hamill has already tentatively indicated his interest in the project after revealing that he and Fisher were told by Lucas in August that Star Wars would be returning. Fisher has so far made no public comment.

Entertainment Weekly's source says Ford, whose career has been stratospheric in the wake of Star Wars compared to those of his co-stars, will wait to see who Disney recruits to write and direct the new films before entering negotiations. One issue may be that there is simply not the narrative space in Episode VII to return all three original stars to the production: the recent JJ Abrams Star Trek reboot brought back Leonard Nimoy as an older version of Spock but failed to find room for the original Captain Kirk, William Shatner, or any of the other Enterprise crew members. Solo appears regularly in the dozens of "expanded universe" Star Wars novels that have appeared on shelves in the 29 years since Return of the Jedi, but then so do Luke and Leia.

Ford's reported interest in returning to Star Wars belies his apparent apathy with regard to the trilogy for the best part of three decades. He has largely refused to appear at conventions and reunions bar a fleeting onstage interview at an official Lucasfilm event in 2010 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of 1980's The Empire Strikes Back. His comments then did not suggest a great amount of fondness for the long-running space opera saga. "I don't know that I understood it very well," he told a rapt audience. "I'm not sure I understand it yet … I was very happy to be involved. I was pleased to be a part of an ensemble." The actor reputedly asked Lucas to kill off Solo in Return of the Jedi, but was turned down as toy models of the character were selling too well in shops.

Ford will presumably, at least, be pleased to note that Lucas is unlikely to be writing the new trilogy, the latter having stepped away from the series with the title of "creative consultant" following his sale to Disney. One of the most famous quotes attributed to the actor is one he is said to have let slip when reading the script for 1977's Star Wars: "George, you can type this shit, but you sure as hell can't say it."

If Ford does play Solo again, it will not be the first time he has reprised a role for one of Lucas's creations. The actor starred as Indiana Jones in the late series addition Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008, though the Steven Spielberg-directed film was less well-received than its predecessors.