USA Today has posted an article that provides readers with 5 things you should know about Joonas Suotamo, the Finnish basketball player who worked as Peter Mayhew’s Chewbacca double in The Force Awakens. In the piece Suotamo reveals how integral Mayhew was in getting the feel of Chewbacca down, how he missed out on attending the red carpet premiere of Episode VII, and that we can expect a much more active Chewie in director Ron Howard’s Solo: A Star Wars Story come May of 2018.
Solo is set before George Lucas’ 1977 Star Wars, so that means a fresh-faced Han (played by Alden Ehrenreich) and a younger Chewie, too. “He’s much more active in this version and a lot more agile,” says Suotamo, whose hoops background helped. “I worked a lot harder for my paycheck, but I love it.”
The article also contains a new image of Chewie and R2-D2 aboard the Millennium Falcon (click the image for a larger view).
