Disney boss drops hot new details on Han Solo, Luke Skywalker

Details on upcoming Star Wars films are usually harder to find than Death Star plans. But Disney CEO Bob Iger just dropped a few key details about The Last Jedi and the untitled young Han Solo movie in an on-stage interview Thursday.

Iger was being interviewed by the dean of USC's Annenberg journalism school, Willow Bay -- who also happens to be his wife. When Bay asked about the galaxy far, far away, according to reporters in the audience, Iger was more than forthcoming.

On The Last Jedi, in theaters this December, Iger confirmed that Mark Hamill "has a big role" and "will do a lot of talking," the Wall Street Journal's Ben Fritz reported.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

That would make a distinct change from The Force Awakens, where Hamill's character didn't get to say a single word. But it also makes sense: Luke has a lot of 'splaining to do, on a lot of fronts.

As for the young Han Solo movie, Iger revealed that the film will follow Alden Ehrenreich's smuggler hero all the way through his late teenage years and into his twenties. It's an origin story that will include Han and Chewbacca's very first meeting:

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

That time scale represents a departure for a Star Wars film; except for that brief prologue in Rogue One, none of the previous movies have covered more than a few days or weeks of action.

The "getting his name" part is a jaw-dropper, too. So far as we've always known, Han Solo is the smuggler's given name. And lest you think this is a misreported quote, Variety confirmed what Iger said: "You’ll also discover how he got his name."

However, we're wary on that detail about Han "finding" the Falcon -- as any good Star Wars fan knows, the scruffy-looking nerf herder won the ship fair and square from Lando Calrissian (played here by Donald Glover) in a game of Sabacc.

With Han Solo filming well underway, and Woody Harrelson revealing the name of his character in the film, it's going to be a long and tantalizing wait for the movie's release, currently set for May 2018.

Finally, Iger revealed that Star Wars Episode IX (coming in 2019) is not the end for the franchise. Lucasfilm is looking at "what could be another decade and a half of Star Wars stories," Variety reports Iger telling Bay.

In other words, the Force is going to be with us always -- or at least until 2035.