It may come as a surprise to some, but Harrison Ford has actually voiced on multiple occasions his preference for Indiana Jones over Star Wars’ Han Solo.

 While it may be hard to imagine Ford being able to so easily favor one iconic film character over the other, 

his confessions to various sources confirm his loyalties lie with the thrill-seeking adventurer, Dr. Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones.

Despite Han Solo existing as a quintessential character in the Star Wars universe that grew to become a fan favorite of the franchise he just doesn’t come up to par in the eyes of the actor.

 Apparently, Ford prefers Indiana Jones, a character he’s played in four movies since 1981. Though Indiana Jones and

 the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was once thought to be the swan song for the character, that role will instead go to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

 Presumably, the fifth movie in the franchise will be Ford’s final time playing his favorite of his two biggest characters.

Harrison Ford believesIndiana Jones’ film legacy is far more interesting than what Han Solo could ever bring to the table. Although his opinion has the potential to polarize film buffs who credit Han Solo with an equal, if not more extensive, complexity in character legacy, Ford has doubled down on his beliefs many times over. An interview with Entertainment Weekly demonstrates his preference over Han Solo where he gave insight on his opinions of the characters:

“[Solo’s] got a good heart, but I think he’s certainly a much less interesting character than Indiana Jones. The breadth of his story utility was never extensive. He was the foil between the other more compelling elements of the film, between the sage old warrior and the young hero. There’s not much breadth of character to explore beyond what we got out of him.”

To Ford, Solo not only is the far less interesting character than Indiana Jones, but his character arc and development is comparatively simple within the bounds of the Star Wars movie universe and its other more compelling characters. In this case, Ford’s preference may spring more from Han Solo’s lack of impression within the Star Wars franchise than Indiana Jones’ appeal, but Ford could also potentially be on to something. In the original trilogy, Indiana Jones blossomed from a selfish treasure-hunter to a compassionate hero with his character evolution leaking into the fourth Indiana Jones where he openly comes to terms with getting older and becoming a father.

Set side by side, Han Solo fails to have the same appeal as Indiana Jones does for Ford. Many could argue that Han Solo had a meaningful arc that found him evolve out of an egocentric and controlling character and into an advocate of the Rebel cause; but naturally, the Star Wars story tends to focus on Luke Skywalker’s personal story, effectively obscuring Han Solo’s character development into the background. Indiana Jones’ appeal could be direct result of Han Solo’s limitations as a supporting character, whereas Indiana Jones exudes main character energy.

In Indiana Jones, Ford gets to play the hero – indeed, he gets to play one of Star Wars’ biggest heroes in Han Solo, but Solo is not the hero in the way Luke Skywalker is. Star Wars holds Han Solo to the responsibility of sidekick, while Indiana Jones has a lot more room to play as the namesake main character. Indiana Jones being the central protagonist in the franchise could also imply that the Indiana Jones method of production holds him to higher standard in regard to developing his character arc, which could prove Ford’s opinions somewhat true.

Helping to put Ford’s opinion of Han Solo into perspective is the notion that Ford has always had beef in the making of Star Wars. Besides the fact that he felt his Han Solo character was not interesting, he also had contention with George Lucas’ writing within the franchise. In fact, Ford notoriously wanted Han Solo to be killed off in the Star Wars movie catalog because he thought it would give the franchise some emotional poignancy. About killing off Han Solo, he’s noted in the same Entertainment Weekly interview, saying, “It wasn’t a heroic arc so much that I was interested in but giving [Return of the Jedi] some emotional strength.”

Ford’s particularly impassioned opinions were never turned towards Indiana Jones, and it’s quite obvious that through the decades Harrison Ford has embraced his Indiana Jones character a lot more. In reality, it’s evident he has embraced the Indiana Jones franchise over the Star Wars’ universe entirely. Both empires have great qualities that they bring to film, but Ford is firmly team Indiana Jones and a strong proponent of the franchise.

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