Director Ron Howard has confirmed on Twitter that he will take over from the departed Phil Lord and Chris Miller to helm the Han Solo standalone movie.
Howard’s films include: the science-fiction/fantasy film Cocoon (1985), the historical docudrama Apollo 13 (1995), the biographical drama A Beautiful Mind (2001) (earning him the Academy Award for Best Director), and the thriller The Da Vinci Code (2006). So he is definitely a safe choice as far as Lucasfilm is concerned.
Oh and Howard’s tenuous link to Star Wars? He acted in George Lucas’ American Graffiti, the film Lucas made before Star Wars!
… still there’s more …