The young Han Solo will make his debut at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Lucasfilm announced today that “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which depicts Solo’s life before the events of “Star Wars: A New Hope,” would have its premiere at the festival before opening in France on May 23 and in the United States two days later.

The film’s director, Ron Howard, is expected to attend the festival, along with the cast members Alden Ehrenreich, Donald Glover and Emilia Clarke, among others. Ehrenreich plays Han Solo and Glover plays Lando Calrissian. Clarke will be featured as Qi’ra, a childhood friend and accomplice of Solo.

Howard took over directing duties in June after the film’s original directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, left the production. Kathleen Kennedy, the Lucasfilm president, said at the time, “It’s become clear that we had different creative visions on this film, and we’ve decided to part ways.”

Lord and Miller will, however, be credited as executive producers.

“Solo: A Star Wars Story,” written by Lawrence Kasdan and Jonathan Kasdan, is the second stand-alone Star Wars feature film. The first, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” opened in December 2016 and grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.

The Cannes Film Festival has hosted representatives of the Star Wars galaxy before: The second installment of George Lucas’ prequel trilogy, “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones” (2002), screened there after having a premiere in New York. “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith,” the culmination of the prequel trilogy, debuted at Cannes in 2005.

The Cannes festival is scheduled for May 8-19. Asghar Farhadi’s new movie “Everybody Knows,” starring Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem, is slated to open the festival.

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