Solo: A Star Wars Story delves into Han Solo's origin, revealing that he enlisted in the Imperial Navy to become a pilot. However, when we next see him, the youngster has been booted out of that division and is serving as a grunt on Mimban. Now, it's been revealed by co-writer Jonathan Kasdan that a scene was cut delving into his time in the Imperial Academy and what led to his demotion.
"One of the things we went back and forth on a lot is that both Larry [Kasdan, co-writer] and I felt that it was important to see Han in the Imperial Academy, in the Navy, because we wanted to see him become this pilot," he reveals. "From the first draft through the last draft, there was a chunk of the movie — Very short. Like, I’d say 80 seconds long — that showed him in the Imperial Academy doing some sort of flight things, sort of disobeying a direct order, and getting kicked out."
That definitely would have been fun to see and it turns out that this sequence would have also introduced two Expanded Universe/Legends characters played by Kasdan and AD Toby Hefferman.
"As he’s getting kicked out, he’s being sort of moved out of the official courtroom by Tag and Bink, played by [me] and Toby Hefferman. We were certain that these scene was going to remain because it’s a crucial moment in his life. And it was the last thing to come out. It was heartbreaking."
Tag and Bink first appeared in a Dark Horse comic book series and they were portrayed as two idiotic Rebel soldiers who pretended to be Stormtroopers in order to avoid capture. Their inclusion here definitely feels like it could have been a Phil Lord and Chris Miller decision but Howard's decision to cut straight to Mimban worked a lot better cinematically and we'll hopefully see this on the Blu-ray!