Han Solo won the
Millennium Falcon from
Lando Calrissian in the card game
sabacc several years before the events of the original
Star Wars film (
A New Hope). In
A New Hope,
Obi-Wan Kenobi and
Luke Skywalker charter the ship in the
Mos Eisley cantina to deliver them,
C-3PO,
R2-D2, and the stolen
Death Star plans to
Alderaan. When the
Falcon is captured by the Death Star, the group conceal themselves in smuggling compartments built into the floor to avoid detection during a search of the ship. The group eventually escapes aboard the
Falcon after rescuing Princess Leia. Solo later collects his fee for delivering them to the hidden Rebel base on Yavin IV and departs under bitter circumstances, but returns to assist Luke in destroying the Death Star. Solo pilots the
Falcon, with Chewbacca, Leia, and C-3PO aboard, to elude the Imperial fleet in
The Empire Strikes Back, which is a notable struggle due to a damaged hyperdrive. They take refuge at Cloud City, where
Darth Vader captures Solo after
Boba Fett tracks them there. Lando Calrissian helps the others escape, with R2-D2 successfully repairing the ship's hyperdrive. At the film's end, he departs in the
Falcon to track down Solo and his captor,
Jabba the Hutt. Calrissian again captains the
Falcon during the climax of
Return of the Jedi, with
Nien Nunb as co-pilot, to destroy the second Death Star. Before the second Death Star is destroyed, Lando accidentally damages the ship by hitting the circular sensor
rectenna dish on a random pipe or circuit in the second Death Star. Regardless, Lando and the others successfully destroy the
Galactic Empire. In
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, set some 30 years after
Return of the Jedi, the
Falcon is in the possession of a scrap dealer named
Unkar Plutt on the desert planet
Jakku, having been stolen from Solo and Chewbacca some years prior. Scavenger
Rey and former stormtrooper
Finn steal the
Falcon in order to escape from an attack by the
First Order, having been targeted for having the droid
BB-8 in their possession. They are captured by a smuggling freighter, which turns out to be piloted by Solo and Chewbacca, who reclaim the
Falcon. Forced to escape in the
Falcon from an ambush by parties to whom Solo is heavily in debt, Solo reluctantly agrees to help Rey and Finn return BB-8 to the
Resistance. After Rey is captured by the First Order, Solo agrees to take Finn in the
Falcon to the First Order's new Starkiller Base—a planet that has been converted into the next generation of 'Death Star'—by attempting a risky maneuver of bypassing the planet's defences by exiting hyperspace in its atmosphere. When Solo is killed by his son, the rebels escape the destructing Starkiller Base. Later, Rey uses a newly-assembled map to travel to Ahch-To, the site of the first Jedi temple, to make contact with the long-lost Luke Skywalker, travelling in the
Falcon in the company of Chewbacca and R2-D2. The
Falcon appears again in
Star Wars: The Last Jedi, still on Ahch-To with
Rey and
Chewbacca. Rey uses the
Falcons
escape pod to board
Supreme Leader Snoke's flagship, the
Mega-class Star Dreadnought
Supremacy. Director
Rian Johnson noted that he wanted its design to resemble a coffin, inspired by
C.S. Lewis'
Perelandra. The escape pod was
monogrammed to say "Property of Han Solo". Later in the film, Chewbacca and Rey take the
Falcon to the planet Crait, where the Resistance is under attack by the First Order. The
Falcon loses its sensor dish for the third time on Crait, after it is shot off by a TIE fighter, but still manages to single-handedly take out most of the First Order's fighters on the planet while Luke distracts Kylo Ren. After the battle, all surviving Resistance personnel leave Crait aboard the
Falcon. In the film
Solo: A Star Wars Story, it is revealed that Lando modified the
Falcon by putting an escape pod between the frontal 'mandibles', which Han jettisons to escape a
gravity well. This film ends with the game of sabacc where Han won the
Falcon from Lando. In
The Rise of Skywalker the
Falcon is piloted by Lando, Chewbacca and Wedge Antilles in the final battle of Exegol, leading the entire fleet of free worlds against the
Sith Eternal forces.
Kessel Run In the initial film, Solo brags that the
Falcon "made the
Kessel Run in less than twelve
parsecs". As the parsec is a unit of distance, not time, different explanations have been provided. In the fourth draft of the script, Kenobi "reacts to Solo's stupid attempt to impress them with obvious misinformation." Lucas acknowledged the misnomer in 1977, saying that Han modified "the navigational system to get through hyperspace in the shortest possible distance". On the film's DVD
audio commentary, Lucas further explained that in the
Star Wars universe, traveling through hyperspace requires careful navigation to avoid stars, planets, asteroids, and other obstacles, and that is because no long-distance journey can be made in a straight line, the "fastest" ship is the one that can plot the "most direct course", thereby traveling the least distance. In
The Force Awakens,
Rey references the Kessel Run but describes it as being completed in fourteen parsecs, after which Solo corrects her. In
Solo: A Star Wars Story, Solo's Kessel Run is depicted in detail, providing an explanation for the "twelve parsec" boast. Solo has to make many calculated jumps to avoid killing the crew. After integrating the memory module of Lando's damaged L3 droid into the ship's navigation, Solo is able to take a "shortcut" (which is dangerously close to a
black hole). Chewbacca indicates the real distance was closer to 13 parsecs, but Solo insists, "Not if you round down," implying that the claim of "less than twelve parsecs" is slightly exaggerated.
Ownership The
Falcon has been depicted many times in the franchise, and its ownership and command have changed several times. • During the events of
Revenge of the Sith, the
Falcon, then named the
Stellar Envoy, was owned by the Republic Group. Following the end of the
Clone Wars and the formation of the Galactic Empire, the
Envoy was refurbished and passed between multiple owners until it ended up in Lando Calrissian's possession, where it was renamed the
Millennium Falcon. • Prior to
A New Hope, the
Falcon was in the possession of Lando Calrissian. He lost it to Han Solo in payment of a gambling debt. This is depicted in
Solo: A Star Wars Story, as well as the integration of Lando's droid
L3-37 with the ship's computer. • After Solo's capture by the Empire in
The Empire Strikes Back, Lando, Chewbacca, and Leia take possession of the
Falcon. In the intervening year prior to
Return of the Jedi, Leia commandeers the
Falcon for the Alliance. • During
Return of the Jedi, Solo leaves Tatooine aboard the
Millennium Falcon, and on arrival at the rendezvous for the Rebel fleet he lends the
Falcon to Calrissian, who pilots it during the Battle of Endor and the destruction of the second
Death Star. • After the events of
Return of the Jedi, the
Falcon is stolen from Solo, ending up on the planet Jakku under the ownership of a scrap dealer,
Unkar Plutt, 30 years after the Battle of Endor. In
The Force Awakens, Rey and Finn commandeer the ship to escape the planet, only to be found by Solo and Chewbacca, who immediately reclaim the ship. • After the death of Solo, Rey pilots the
Falcon, with Chewbacca as her co-pilot. The novelization of
The Force Awakens states that Chewbacca willingly abdicates captaincy of the
Falcon to Rey. • After the events of
The Last Jedi, the ship becomes the
base of operations for the remaining members of the Resistance. • After the events of
The Rise of Skywalker the
Falcon is again piloted by Lando Calrissian with
Chewbacca. ==Cultural influence==