In July, news emerged that Donald and Stephen Glover were selected by Disney and Lucasfilm to take over from Justin Simien as the writers of a new “Lando” television series for Disney+. However, there’s been a twist. Lucasfilm has confirmed that the project is now in development as a “Lando” movie instead, according to Variety. Donald Glover first portrayed a young Lando Calrissian in the 2017 “Star Wars” film “Solo,” which did not perform as well at the box office as expected.
Stephen Glover initially revealed the shift to a “Lando” movie during a recent appearance on the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast. He stated, “It’s not even a show… the idea right now is to do a movie. Right now, because of the strike, it’s kind of like telephone, all of the information.” Lucasfilm later confirmed this update.
The concept of a limited series centered around Lando Calrissian was first reported in December 2020, with “Dear White People” creator Justin Simien initially attached. However, he later left the project, and the Glover brothers have since taken over, reimagining it as a movie. The character of Lando was originally brought to life by Billy Dee Williams in “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi.”
In April, Donald Glover disclosed in an interview with GQ magazine that he had been in discussions with Lucasfilm regarding another project centered on Lando in the “Star Wars” universe. He mentioned, “We’re talking about it. That’s as much as I can say without [Lucasfilm president] Kathleen Kennedy hunting me down.”
Glover also shared his admiration for the character, stating, “Lando is charm incarnate… He’s kind of a maverick, which I don’t think there’s a lot of anymore. It’s hard to be the smooth talker nowadays. Where’s the line? That’s also where the danger is. How close can you get without tripping over it?”
He continued, “I would love to play Lando again. It’s a fun time, being him. It just has to be the right way to do it. Time is precious. The past couple of years, this pandemic situation, it really had people experience time… People realize their time is valuable. You only get so much. I’m not interested in doing anything that’s going to be a waste of my time or just a paycheck. I’d much rather spend time with people that I enjoy. It just has to be the right thing, and I think it could be. Lando is definitely somebody I like to hang out with.”
