Harrison Ford is ''open'' to the idea of returning to the 'Star Wars' franchise.

The 70-year-old actor - who played the character in the first three movies of the sci-fi franchise from 1977 to 1983 - would consider reprising his role in the recently-announced 2015 sequel, to be created by Disney.

A source told Entertainment Weekly: ''Harrison is open to the idea of doing the movie and he's upbeat about it, all three of them [Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher] are.''

However, Harrison has previously expressed disdain for the character, saying he did not find him particularly interesting.

He said: ''As a character, he was not so interesting to me.''

Disney purchased Lucasfilm, the company behind the movie series - helmed by George Lucas - last month, and has revealed plans for at least three more films following on from 2005's 'Revenge Of The Sith'.

George said: ''For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next,'' Mr Lucas said.

''I've always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime.''