If you haven’t heard yet, later this year at Disney Land and Disney World, a brand new park is opening: Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. This takes the visitor to the planet Batuu, on the far reaches of the known galaxy, to Black Spire Outpost.
One of the main attractions at this park is going to be Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run, which allows the visitor to enter the Millennium Falcon and take the iconic ship on a smuggling run in connection with Hondo Ohnaka. One thing that Lucasfilm is really trying to do is establish a backstory for Galaxy’s Edge so that, if you pay attention to that sort of thing, you’ll be truly and fully immersed into the Star Wars galaxy at a point in time. They’ve already begun developing this backstory in material, and they’re going to be continuing in full force this year with plenty more books and comics to come.
So, naturally, one of the questions that had to be answered was how Hondo Ohnaka came to have the Falcon at this point in time (Galaxy’s Edge will be set in the post-The Last Jedi world). That was answered in the recent junior novel “Pirate’s Price,” written by Lou Anders and a part of the Flight of the Falcon line of books.
The book “Pirate’s Price” basically consists of Hondo telling stories of his adventures with the Falcon and Han Solo and Chewbacca to Bazine Netal, who is looking to purchase the Falcon for an unknown client. It is the last story that Hondo tells that is of particular interest. He explains that Chewbacca actually gave him the Falcon and that he didn’t even have to steal it. The ship needed repairs, particularly the Quadex power core, and parts were hard to come by for the old, customized ship. Chewie informed Hondo that Han Solo had died, and that he was now traveling with a young Jedi named Rey, and that there were plenty of porgs on board. Hondo didn’t know what porgs were, but he soon found out. He met up with Chewbacca and took possession of the ship with the agreement to fix it, as Hondo was starting up his new business, Ohnaka Transport Solutions. Hondo took the ship to Batuu, but along the way he encountered the porgs (which caused him much trouble initially) and then the scoundrel Trunc Adurmush, who took the Falcon for himself. But with the help of the porgs, Hondo got the Falcon back and set off for Batuu to fix up the ship.
It was on Batuu that he met with Bazine Netal, and he agreed to sell her the ship for a large sum of money. Bazine took off, finally having completed her mission, and traveled to the rendezvous point. There, she met with a mysterious woman and was paid a small sum of money, after which the woman took off with the ship… only to fly it right back to Batuu to Hondo. It turns out that the woman was Mahjo Reeloo, a scoundrel friendly to the good guys, had intercepted the ship at the rendezvous and tricked Bazine. There was no way to trace it back to Hondo, since he had sold the ship to Bazine fair and square, but the Falcon was once again back in his possession. At the bar, Hondo contacted Chewbacca about what had happened and promised to give the Falcon back once it was done… or not. At that, Hondo hung up, then posted a sign: “Flight Crews Wanted. No training necessary. Fair pay, great experience. Discretion a must. Inquire at Ohnaka Transport Solutions in the Spaceport.”
So there you go; that’s why Hondo has the Falcon at Galaxy’s Edge. In need of repairs sometime after the Battle of Crait, Chewbacca turned to Hondo for those fixes. I imagine that there may be a bit of a story to tell regarding Chewie eventually getting the ship back, since Hondo seems to love the ship and seems hesitant to part with it, but that’s a story for another time – and a story that would take place after Galaxy’s Edge.
Additionally, it seems that Hondo is at the very least friendly to the Resistance. He points out to Mahjo that he helped the Rebellion liberate Lothal, which is a nice nod to the events of Star Wars Rebels, and of course he has apparently bragged about his heroics many times already. Hondo also mentions that, “I know this ship has a history helping out the good guys. I am sure it has not reached the end of its days assisting the rebels.” A bit later in the conversation, he says that, “The good guys need scoundrels, too, if they are to make it.” Those lines, as well as Hondo’s actions with Bazine, point to the reality that he seems quite friendly with the Resistance. I certainly wouldn’t say that he’s a part of it or anything, but he does seem to be an ally of it. If that’s the case, I could see future stories (which could even mean showing up in a third animated TV show, Resistance)telling of how he came to their aid, not fully aligning himself with the cause but being a friend to them. Kind of like he was with the Rebellion in Rebels.
I do appreciate how all of these stories are tying together and giving us a more complete picture of Batuu in advance of Galaxy’s Edge opening later this year. Lucasfilm absolutely doesn’t have to do this and it’d be awesome enough, but knowing that there are legitimate canon reasons for the story we’re walking in to is awesome. And one of the most prominent of those questions is in regards to the Millennium Falcon, so this book gives us the necessary information there. Hondo was given the Falcon temporarily by Chewbacca to fix the ship sometime following the Battle of Crait.
Oh, and the fact that there are porgs on board? That strongly suggests to me that we’ll see porgs at Galaxy’s Edge on the Falcon, which would be awesome.
Star Wars Thoughts 