If there’s one thing you can rely on social media for, it’s having an immediate response to any given story. If there are two things you can rely on social media for, it’s the immediate response and the availability of an Arrested Development reference … which made Thursday’s news of Ron Howard stepping into the directorial role on Lucasfilm’s untitled Han Solo project utterly ripe for Twitter.
It didn’t disappoint.
To be fair, it’s not as if people weren’t expecting what was to come back when Howard’s name was simply attached to the movie as a rumor…
Me: Huh, Ron Howard’s taking over the Han Solo movie, maybe Twitter won’t make the obvious narrator joke.
Ron Howard: They did.— Alex M. Adrian (@alexadrian592) June 21, 2017
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… But, oh boy. Did people deliver.
Han Solo: Tell Jabba I’ve got his money!
Narrator: He didn’t. And he was about to shoot Greedo first.https://t.co/fsQEuLGoWy— Brian Gaar (@briangaar) June 22, 2017
Ron Howard is taking over the Han Solo film.
Han: The Rebellion is for suckers. I’ll never join it.
Narrator: He would.
— Taylor Belcher (@teachbarefoot) June 22, 2017
Ron Howard is now directing the Han Solo film
NARRATOR: He had a bad feeling about this.
— Jack Tinker (@jacktink) June 22, 2017
INTERNET: “Ron Howard stepping in to direct the Han Solo movie? Pssh, that’s just a rumor!”
RON HOWARD NARRATOR: It wasn’t.
— Hollywood Palms (@HollywoodPalms) June 22, 2017
Me: “It’s true. All of it.”
Ron Howard Narrator: “It wasn’t.” pic.twitter.com/54VxTzgIlp— Bad Father Han Solo (@BadFatherHan) June 22, 2017
Ron Howard’s Han Solo.
Han: “I made the Kessel Run in 9 parsecs, ladies.”
Narrator: “It was 12.”
— Chris Moore (@MooreSaiyan) June 22, 2017
By this point, not only have things gone beyond backlash to the narrator joke — that was, perhaps unsurprisingly, almost immediate — but to the point of metatextual self-referencing commentary on the joke’s popularity.
Everyone else: my Ron Howard narrator Star Wars joke is very funny
Me, the narrator: it wasn’t— Jake Weiner (@jakeyner) June 22, 2017
Slow down, internet. The movie’s not even out until next May. You have to pace yourself for another 11 months yet.
