Taron Egerton pulled out of auditions for Han Solo

Taron Egerton has revealed he came close to playing Han Solo in 2018’s ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’.

The ‘Rocketman’ star, 32, has revealed he auditioned for the part of a young version of Harrison Ford’s iconic character in the prequel, which ended up going to Alden Ehrenreich.

However, he pulled out before the next round of auditions.

Speaking on the ‘Happy Sad Confused’ podcast, he spilled: “I’ll be honest: I got on the Falcon. I was with Chewie.

“I was in the full costume … And there was one more … there was another round [of auditions] that I decided not to do. And it’s far enough in the past now that I feel like I can say that. I hope no one feels annoyed that I have said it.”

Alden previously said he is open to playing Han Solo again.

The 32-year-old actor took on the role in the prequel and even though it failed to set the box office alight, with Disney later accepting they had released too many ‘Star Wars’ movies to close together after acquiring the rights to the franchise when they bought Lucasfilm in 2012, Alden is prepared to return to the role if the story is right.

When asked if he would play Han Solo again, Alden said in 2020: “It depends on what it is. It depends on how it’s done. It depends if it feels innate to the story.”

He also insisted there were no official plans for a ‘Solo’ sequel, despite the end of the movie giving possible plots.

He said: “I don’t know anything about that. I mean, you know, I think our movie was kind of the last of the conventional-era ‘Star Wars’ movie releases.”

The ‘Hail, Caesar!’ star went on to explain that he has heard rumours from the ‘Star Wars’ universe that could see him reprise the role.

Alden said: “I’ve heard some stuff, but nothing concrete.”

The ‘Brave New World’ star made the decision to step away from the spotlight after featuring in the flick, which was directed by Ron Howard.

He explained: “It was basically a three-year experience from pre-production to the release of the movie, and I just wanted to be a person, connect with people in my life, spend time and develop as a person outside of those worlds. And then you never know.”

And he confessed that he had not kept up with the iconic sci-fi franchise since appearing in ‘Solo’, revealing that he had not seen ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ or the acclaimed Disney+ TV series ‘The Mandalorian’.