Star Wars: Donald Glover Cast as Young Lando Calrissian
Walt Disney Star Wars and Lucasfilm revealed some major league casting news for the upcoming planned Han Stolo Star Wars Stand-Alone film that’s currently in the works. Per the announcement, Community star Donald Glover has joined the cast in the role of Young Lando Calrissian. The character was previously made famous in the original Star Wars trilogy by actor Billy Dee Williams.
Glover joins the cast opposite Alden Ehrenreich as the young Han Solo. As such, the film will explore the backstories of these two iconic characters, but from a time period that’s never been explored on film. The story will feature Lando Calrissian in his formative years when he was still a scoundrel on the rise in the underworld of the galaxy. The film is set years before Han first meets Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker and gets involved with the Rebel Alliance’s conflict with the Empire, led by Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader. The original trilogy saw Lando make a transition from an underworld mobster into a hero of the Rebel alliance in Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
Speaking on the casting announcement, directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller said in a joint statement, “We’re so lucky to have an artist as talented as Donald join us. These are big shoes to fill, and an even bigger cape, and this one fits him perfectly, which will save us money on alterations. Also, we’d like to publicly apologize to Donald for ruining Comic-Con for him forever.”
Glover currently stars in the acclaimed FX TV series Atlanta. He’s also well known as a musician who performs under the name Childish Gambino. He’s also set to appear in a mystery role in the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming film due out next year.
The currently untitled Star Wars Han Solo movie is due out for a 2018 release.