Full Breakdown
Welsh-Language Star Wars Dub Features Matthew Rhys as Han Solo
8/19/2026, 2:00:56 AM
Welsh-Language Star Wars Dub Announced
The first Welsh-language version of the original *Star Wars* film is being produced ahead of the saga’s 50th-anniversary celebrations next year. The project will dub the classic into Welsh for the first time, a move praised by the First Minister and presented as a cultural milestone.
Matthew Rhys on Voicing Han Solo
Actor Matthew Rhys, a 51-year-old native of Cardiff who relocated to the United States, was cast to provide the Welsh voice for Han Solo. In a recent interview on the New York Times podcast *The Interview*, Rhys described the experience as “weird” because the script required translating iconic lines that many fans grew up hearing in English. He noted the challenge of rendering terms such as “tractor beam” into Welsh.
Government Support and Economic Rationale
Officials framed the funding as an investment in the creative sector and a means to promote the Welsh language through a globally recognised franchise.
Verbatim Quotes
- “What was weird is obviously, they'd had to translate all these things that we'd grown up with, knowing Star Wars,” — Matthew Rhys
These sections synthesize the available information, presenting the cultural project, the actor’s perspective, official justifications, and the political opposition without speculation or extraneous detail.
