The new spin-off, starring Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo, is out in May, but as yet nothing has been seen of it.

Now, Howard has spoken out on Twitter - saying that the release of Episode 8: The Last Jedi has cleared the way for a new Solo teaser.

“Hang in there,” he replied to a follower earlier today. “Now that ep 8 is out there it won’t be long.”

A previous claim - evidently false - had suggested that the teaser would have arrived on Saturday night during US football matches.

However nothing emerged, and there is still no sign of Solo.

Starring alongside Ehrenreich are Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton and Phoebe Waller-Bridge among others.

Glover, who plays Lando Calrissian, spoke out about the shift in directors - which saw Glover take over from Phil Lord and Chris Miller.

“Not a ton [changed] actually. Not a lot at all, at least not for me.” he said, according to /Film.

“I think we were never faced with anything like that and [Howard] did a good job of coming in and didn’t want us to change what we were doing at all.

“He wanted us to be comfortable with our vision.”

Solo: A Star Wars Story is out on May 25.