Star Wars has retconned The Force Awakens more than a decade after its initial release. The story surrounding Episode VII has received the spin-off treatment lately within the galaxy far, far away, essentially as part of the movie celebrating its 10th anniversary. Part of these festivities has been the ongoing Star Wars: Han Solo — Hunt for the Falcon from Marvel Comics.
The five-issue miniseries, which kicked off back in September 2025, recently came to a close, with the debut of its fifth and final installment. Written by renowned comic creator Rodney Barnes, Hunt for the Falcon followed Harrison Ford's star-faring scoundrel in the years before The Force Awakens as he searched the cosmos for his iconic ship, The Millennium Falcon.
While the story is an epic, rollicking adventure for fans of the planet-hopping franchise, its final issue introduced a new wrinkle to the Star Wars timeline that has raised some eyebrows.
Star Wars: Han Solo — Hunt for the Falcon #5 was expected to end with Han eventually coming back into possession of his beloved Corelian YT-1300 light freighter, but that did not happen. In fact, it not only did not happen, but it also seemingly retconned the events as fans know them that led up to The Force Awakens (via Reddit).
Toward the end of Hunt for the Falcon's fifth issue, Han and his companion, Gannis Ducain, actually give up their quest for the Falcon. On Jakku (of all places), the pair decides the chase is no longer worth it. Giving up the ghost, Ducain posits, "I'm an opportunist, Solo. There are better things to do than end up dead in this pit under Unkar's home," referring to Unkar Plutt, the Jakku-based scavenger who comes to own the Falcon in The Force Awakens.
Unkar's mention in relation to the Falcon, and the group's presence on Jakku, means that Solo at least knew Unkar had the Falcon in his grasp before Episode VII, something that he clearly had no knowledge of in the movie itself.
In Star Wars Episode VII, a key plot point included Han having no idea where the Falcon was before it crossed its path in uncharted space, helmed by Daisy Ridley's Rey (who is set to lead her own Star Wars project in the next few years).
When Rey and co are caught in the tractor beam of Han's new star freighter, Ford's big-screen bounty hunter comes on board and has the ship's former location explained to him by Rey, revealing that he has been searching for it for years. The latest Marvel Star Wars comic contradicts this specific moment, seemingly retconning the Sequels moment.
Why the Han Solo Retcon Is Okay
It had previously been assumed that the events of the Hunt for the Falcon comic series were going to lead to the events in which Han lost the Falcon between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, but that did not end up being the case.
Instead, the Star Wars badass opted to go home to his 'family' before anything more deadly could happen to him in his quest to reclaim his trusty starcruiser. While that is okay and would have maintained the integrity of the Star Wars story, it is the mention of Unkar Plutt and Han's presence on Jakku that disrupts things.
Ultimately, it is not too big a deal. There is a single line in The Force Awakens that suggests Han's shock at Unkar keeping the ship at Niima Outpost. However, beyond that, the movie does not dwell too much on why Han lost his ship.
Even if he knew Jakku was where the Falcon was being held, that does not mean he could have easily gotten back to it (or even wanted to). Unkar has been described in the Star Wars canon as a dangerous man, so if Han, like he alludes to in the comic, deemed the mission of retrieving the vessel too much of a risk to undertake, then it was probably for good reason.
If anything, it adds a new wrinkle to his reuniting with the Falcon in Episode VII, as he knows he could have found it sooner; he just avoided doing so to make sure he was there for Leia and his son, Ben (read more about Ben Solo here).
