Han Solo is reportedly getting back in touch with the Force.

That’s the news that leaked out this week, anyway.

Harrison Ford has reportedly signed on for the next ‘Star Wars’ movie – which will involve events after the original trilogy.

While no official casting announcements have been issued, I know a lot of fans that are geeked about this news (myself included).

A lot of ‘Star Wars’ fans don’t seem to realize that there’s an entire mythology that already exists beyond the six movies. There are literally hundreds of books that continue the story – and I’m betting that J.J. Abrams will at least try to incorporate some of that mythology.

For those who haven’t read the books – and I stopped a few years ago because I was infuriated with some of the character deaths – the story continues the adventures of Luke, Han, Leia, Chewbacca and Lando, but it focuses on their offspring.

In the books, Luke marries a rogue Jedi named Mara Jade, and they have a son named Ben. Leia and Han also marry, and they have a set of Jedi twins named Jaina and Jacen. They also have a younger child named Anakin.

Now I’m not going to give all the spoilers away from the books – some of them are definitely worth a read – but a lot of the characters you love from the original trilogy are killed off (and new members). 

I actually got so angry at one of the deaths I threw the books down and quit reading. I would rather imagine my own ‘Star Wars’ future than have someone ruin it for me.

Still, I think we’ll probably see at least some of the characters from the books.

The truth is, most real ‘Star Wars’ fans revere ‘A New Hope’ and ‘The Empire Strikes Back.’ ‘Return of the Jedi’ gets mixed reviews. Of the prequels, ‘The Phantom Menace’ and ‘Attack of the Clones’ get the most hate, while ‘Revenge of the Sith’ falls in ‘Return of the Jedi’ territory and gets mixed reviews.

As a ‘Star Wars’ fan, I can’t deny that I was disappointed in the prequels.

I know a whole generation of kids who grew up on them and love them – but I don’t think they’re great.

Ironically, I think the casting for the prequels was amazing. Natalie Portman and Ewan MacGregor are tremendous actors, and I defy anyone that has seen ‘Life as a House’ to tell me that Hayden Christiansen isn’t talented.

Of the original cast, only Ford is a truly great actor. Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher were solid -- but unspectacular.

The real problem that stemmed from the prequels was two-fold: George Lucas became more about special effects than story – and the dialogue was absolute crap.

If you watch any documentaries on the making of the original ‘Star Wars’ trilogy (like I do), you’ll realize that a lot of the dialogue from those movies was ad-libbed by the actors. Ford coined the ultimate line, “I know,” himself, for example.

I’m hopeful that the dialogue problems will be fixed and new director Abrams will focus on story instead of special effects.

I’m honestly not sure how I want the story to go – but I am looking forward to the ride.

What do you think? How do you want to see ‘Star Wars’ get resurrected?