Spoilers ahead for Solo: A Star Wars Story. Now that Star Wars fans have gotten a look into Han Solo's backstory through Solo, it's fun to imagine how the beloved character grew from the young, idealistic adventure boy in this film to the smooth-talking smuggler in A New Hope, or even the gruff, old-timer seen in The Force Awakens. After all, Han's solo movie ends on a bittersweet note, with his ex-flame, Qi'ra, leaving him and Chewbacca behind on a dusty planet. Being the resourceful, skilled folks that they are, Han and Chewie make their way off of Savareen, and manage to reacquire the Millennium Falcon before riding off into the sunset, er, flying off into the galaxy together. But just where are Han and Chewie going at the end of Solo? The answer puts in motion some of the most major events of the Star Wars universe.
Han and Chewie are headed to Tatooine to meet up with Jabba the Hutt and join his band of smugglers and thieves. During the climax of Solo, when the audience believes that Beckett is going to abandon their cause and head off alone, he makes an off-handed comment that Han will be able to find him on Tatooine. There's a big shot crime boss there, Beckett says, and he's off to find more work and stay out of Crimson Dawn's way. Beckett is no doubt referencing Jabba the Hutt, since the big worm is based on Tatooine and the Hutt Cartel is one of the major crime organizations in the galaxy. So when Han and Chewie find themselves alone, with no obligations, and the Millennium Falcom back in their hands, the possibilities of making bigs bucks on Tatooine come calling.
Anyone who has seen the original Star Wars movie A New Hope, can remember what happens from there. After years of smuggling for Jabba, Han ends up back on Tattooine, where he meets up with Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Mos Eisley cantina, strikes a deal, and finds his fate forever changed. It's there where Han meets Luke Skywalker, where he sort of unwillingly joins the Rebellion. If Han and Chewie didn't make their way to Tattooine at the end of Solo, Han may have never come into the crosshairs of Jabba, nor would he have had that fateful run-in with Greedo, or been captured by Boba Fett and frozen in carbonite. But he also wouldn't have met the love of his life, Princess Leia, or helped bring down some of the most evil people in the galaxy.
Han Solo also wouldn't be the Han Solo we know and love without his experiences on Tatooine and with Jabba the Hutt. Much of Han's character development has a lot to do with his time as a smuggler, and, though the events in Solo introduced him to that life, his history with the big slug-like crime boss no doubt shaped his identity as one of the galaxy's greatest. Han is slightly naive in Solo, thinking that perhaps everyone has good intentions, and he's a little too trustworthy. Being double-crossed by Beckett and betrayed by Qi'ra certainly hardens him, but the difficult life of a smuggler, dealing with the mob, and all of the cruelty that accompanies that world is what truly changes Han over the years. He becomes more resourceful, but also more cynical.
The journey Han and Chewie take at the end of Solo is certainly a fateful one; as said, if the duo had never set out to explore Tatooine, or met up with Jabba the Hutt, the Rebellion might have looked a lot different. Who knows if it would have successfully happened, either. Considering that Han's super-fast Millennium Falcon had a lot to do with successful Rebel Alliance missions, Han's absence might have change the whole game. But thankfully, Beckett had heard of a planet called Tattooine, and a crime boss named Jabba the Hutt, and put that little worm in Han Solo's ear.
