Star Wars fans have long wanted for more content focused on Lando Calrissian, a well-connected and smooth-talking smuggler and old friend of Han Solo who later becomes a general for the Rebel Alliance. A lot of folks have wanted more of Lando since he first appeared in The Empire Strikes Back where he was played by the great Billy Dee Williams. Younger Star Wars fans joined the call for more Lando in 2018, when Donald Glover took on the role in the prequel, Solo: A Star Wars Story.
It seems like another story featuring the sophisticated gambler is on the way – just not in the form we thought.
Back in July, reports said that Donald and his brother Stephen Glover were developing and writing a series centered around Lando for Disney+, taking the project over from Justin Simien (Dear White People, Haunted Mansion) who had been attached to it since 2020.
But this week, we got more clarification about how the project is unfolding when Stephen Glover – a writer an executive producer for FX’s Atlanta – sat down with Meadowlark’s Pablo Torre on his new podcast, PABLO TORRE FINDS OUT.
The ears of Star Wars’ fans perked up when Glover said this to start the podcast:
“It’s not even a show… The idea right now is to do a movie.”
PTFO SOURCES: The new Star Wars show about Lando Calrissian — made by Donald Glover and @Steve_G_Lover — is not supposed to be a show.
It's a movie.
👀 Full episode: https://t.co/IQzGDgbQSb pic.twitter.com/byp60HRZ6k
— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) September 14, 2023
A Lando Calrissian movie, y’all. It’s happening.
Glover wasn’t just talking about an aspiration either. Lucasfilm confirmed to Variety that, indeed, a Lando movie is in the works, with the Glovers attached as writers and with Donald expected to reprise the role of laid-back, cape-wearing schemer.
Talking to Torre, Stephen Glover, however, seemed to indicate that momentum on the project has slowed down a bit because of the ongoing strikes for writers and actors in Hollywood.
“But, that’s thing, right now, because of the strike, it’s kinds of like telephone, all of the information, like coming out.”
Star Wars fans waited a long time for an Ahsoka show, and even longer for a Boba Fett show. As long as the strikes continue, they’ll have to have a bit more patience for Lando to get his own time to shine on the big screen.
Whenever the Lando movie lands, it’ll be the first Star Wars film to hit the big screen since 2019’s Rise of Skywalker, the final chapter in the sequel trilogy. Since then, Disney and Lucasfilm has kept Star Wars content on Disney+ in the form of live-action shows and cartoons. Other films are in the works too though, including one from James Mangold.
While the Glovers are attached to the Lando project, a director hasn’t been announced. Hiro Murai has worked often with the Glovers though, directing 26 episodes of Atlanta and the 2019 film Guava Island starring Donald Glover and Rhianna. He’s also directed episodes of Snowfall, Barry and Station Eleven, and served as an executive producer on The Bear.
In the meantime, as we wait for more details about the project, folks can check out the full episode of PABLO TORRE FINDS OUT with Glover below, which also includes a brief discussion about Method Man rapping from the perspective of The Riddler: