'We're big fans of the Wookieepedia. It's a great resource,' Jonathan Kasdan explains.

• May 31, 2018

AceShowbiz - Screenwriters Lawrence and Jonathan Kasdan relied on an online encyclopaedia when penning the script for "Solo: A Star Wars Story".

The father and son writing team have a wealth of experience when it comes to the beloved franchise, with Lawrence previously masterminding the screenplays for "The Empire Strikes Back", "Return of the Jedi" and "Star Wars: The Force Awakens".

Though one would expect the duo to know all the ins and outs of the "Star Wars" universe, they have now admitted that they required a little help from the fan-built online website Wookieepedia.

"We're big fans of the Wookieepedia. It's a great resource," Jonathan explained in an interview with Screen Rant. "And we would have moments when we were writing where we would say, 'Well what's the cannon or non-cannon explanation for this thing?' And then we go into Wookieepedia, the two of us sitting at the computer and we'd go down a rabbit hole about, like, the history of the (Millennium) Falcon."

However, the 38-year-old acknowledged that dependence on a platform of this kind did bring some risks.

"We'd spend two hours looking at this stuff and then we'd think like, 'Well, if this is open sourced, how do we know we're not just listening, to like, some kid, from like, Iowa?'" he laughed.

British actress Felicity Jones, who played Jyn Erso in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, previously confessed to using Wookieepedia as a research tool in an interview for the film's DVD bonus features.

And according to Solo's director Ron Howard, Tom Hanks may be the next famous face to make an appearance in the franchise, as he was keen to play a Stormtrooper in the latest feature.

"It would have been great," the 64-year-old lamented. "He was shooting and he just couldn't get there. But now that Lucasfilm knows that Tom Hanks is interested, I'm sure they'll work it out someday."