Michael K. Williams Cut From Han Solo Plus Emilia Clarke's Character Name

From Vanity Fair's interview with Michael K. Williams.

"....Williams reached the Hollywood holy grail when he was invited to join the Star Wars franchise for the Han Solo spin-off.

“I was surprised I got the project in the first place,” Williams confesses. “I fanned out a little bit when Chewbacca walked on set. I kind of freaked out and hugged him at the waist. All you can grab is the waist because he’s so tall.”

Williams had already filmed all of his scenes as a new character to the universe—“a link between Han Solo and Emilia’s character, Kira”—when Lucasfilm suddenly announced in June that it was replacing directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller with Ron Howard. The shake-up meant that Williams would need to re-shoot his scenes so that the anticipated spin-off could still meet its 2018 release date.

Unfortunately, Williams had committed himself to another project in Africa that was filming during the same time period: The Red Sea Diving Resort, an Argo-esque historical thriller from Homeland mastermind Gideon Raff. Based on a recently declassified F.B.I. operation, the film centers on spies smuggling persecuted Jews out of Ethiopia in the late 70s and early 80s through an abandoned resort they co-opted as a front for the operation. When a German travel agent started sending visitors to the resort, F.B.I. agents doubled as resort staff to maintain their cover.

“I would have had to be in London right now reshooting,” Williams says of Star Wars. “The only option was to cut my character from the film. But I feel very confident that I’ll be back in the galaxy, just not in the Han Solo project.”

Hearing Williams’s description of the character, we hope so: “He wore this beautiful white kimono, was very regal. He had class, money strength, charisma . . . and he knew how to fight. He was a warrior. He had a lot of prestige. If he lived in our world he would probably hang out with Jay Z and Beyoncé.”

“With the timing—I don't believe in mistakes,” Williams continues. “I believe I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be, and if it was meant to be, I would have been there.”

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