During production of Solo: A Star Wars Story, director Ron Howard wasn’t shy about sharing images from the set – including one particular easter egg that was a shout-out to the work of famed Star Wars concept artist Ralph McQuarrie. But now we know Solo will put another concept artist’s work from the original movie to good use in the form of a retro spaceship. Read more about the new (or is it old?) Solo ship below.



New Solo ship

Inverse pointed us to this tweet from a Star Wars fan who noticed a couple of new toy ships from the movie:

2 NEW ships from the Solo movie! The "Arrestor Cruiser" and the "Imperial Hauler" pic.twitter.com/nljJ7lDMpc — short Stormtrooper (@shortStormy) February 20, 2018

We don’t know much about the Arrestor Cruiser (Is it an Imperial ship? Does Han pilot it at any point in the new movie?), but it’s clear it was constructed based on the designs of artist Colin Cantwell, who created the Death Star, X-wing, TIE Fighter, and other ships from the Star Wars universe. Cantwell’s Instagram page is full of cool pieces of concept art, and the most hardcore Star Wars fans may recognize the Arrestor Cruiser as one of Cantwell’s first attempts at visualizing the Star Destroyer.



Cantwell’s most recent post confirms this, and entertainingly answers some fan questions about the original creation of this ship:



In case it gets deleted, here’s the relevant text from the caption:

Questions I’ve heard so far: What are the radar dishes for? Originally anti-ship/space-to-land lasers, now likely tractor beams. Did I know ahead of time? Nope, news to me. Am I getting a payday? Very unlikely unless you all buy prints on my website. Why did I make such an ugly ship? Can’t please everyone. The ships talk to me and mostly design themselves. I did help redesign her later on, but this concept still holds a special place in my mind.

Here’s the movie’s official synopsis:

Board the Millennium Falcon and journey to a galaxy far, far away in Solo: A Star Wars Story, an all-new adventure with the most beloved scoundrel in the galaxy. Through a series of daring escapades deep within a dark and dangerous criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his mighty future copilot Chewbacca and encounters the notorious gambler Lando Calrissian, in a journey that will set the course of one of the Star Wars saga’s most unlikely heroes.

Solo: A Star Wars Story is directed by Ron Howard and stars Alden Ehrenreich as space smuggler Han Solo, along with Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Joonas Suotamo, and Paul Bettany. Solo zooms into theaters on May 25, 2018.