A Fun Theory About the Solo: A Star Wars Story Villain

At the 51-second mark of the Solo: A Star Wars Story trailer you may be getting a glimpse of the film’s villain. What you can be sure of is he’s not Han’s new buddy (you don’t prepare to unholster your Blaster when you meet an old friend), and he’s one bad looking dude, sporting a cool looking mask (how come the good guys in Star Wars never get cool masks?) and some serious backup. Now, while no one knows for sure who this fella is just yet, the Internet has some ideas (as always), and they’re calling him Enfys Nest, the leader of an alien gang who go by the name the Cloud-Riders. Sounds cool!

We won’t be sure of his actual name, his affiliation with the group of heavily armed space ruffians behind him, or what his actual role in the film is until we get more official material from Lucasfilm and Disney, but it is clear from the trailer that he’s got some significant skin in the game and that he will be challenging Han and Chewie in some capacity.

Here’s a look at this curious character in the cool mask, with a rather large blade-like weapon, standing in front of a group of well-armed individuals who may or may not be his Cloud-Rider gang:

The gang at i09 have done a deep dive on who this masked fella might be, with a little help from Reddit. Once again, this information came from merchandise surrounding the upcoming release of Solo: A Star Wars Story. One of those toys is of the masked guy above riding a Swoop Bike. A Swoop Bike is a notoriously loud, hard-to-control but wildly fast mode of transportation for the galaxy’s most unsavory types. The toy comes with a name—you guessed it, Enfys Nest—as well as with a bevy information on the back that pegs him as the leader of the aforementioned Cloud-Riders.

i09 goes on to detail about the other weird joys to be found on the back of the toy box, which they say includes a description of Enfys that is a throwback to the old Expanded Universe:

“The Cloud-Riders came from the planet Aduba-3, and in the EU, were lead by a guy called Serji-X Arrogantus, which, lets be honest, beats “Enfys Nest” as a dumb-good Star Wars name hands down. They terrorized villagers on the planet so much that one of them hires Han Solo and Chewbacca to defeat the gang and protect Aduba-3’s crops. Han and Chewie accept, putting together a motley crew of mercenaries who name themselves the Star-Hoppers to fight Serji-X and his men.”

It’s…interesting stuff. Odd, but interesting. On aesthetics alone, the masked dude looks very villainous. As we stated earlier, only the really bad guys get cool masks (Darth, Boba Fett, Kylo, etc.). We like the idea of Han both becoming an outlaw and fighting truly bad guys in the film, which has always been what made him such a great Star Wars character; never a choir boy, but willing to save the choir if any bullies came around to make fun of their voices (and threaten their lives).

We’ll know for sure when Solo: A Star Wars Story hits theaters on May 25.

Featured image: Alden Ehrenreich is Han Solo in SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY. Courtesy Walt Disney Studios/Lucasfilm