While their reunion in The Empire Strikes Back went horribly, at one time Han Solo and Lando Calrissian were great friends. The original Star Wars Expanded Universe of stories delved into their past together, but in the Disney/Lucasfilm era, those tales have been wiped from continuity, leaving a blank slate. Fortunately, the upcoming Han Solo movie will explore their time together, and Atlanta star Donald Glover will play the young Lando.
The folks over at StarWars.com made it official today that Donald Glover will play Lando Calrissian in the Han Solo spinoff. He joins Alden Ehrenreich, the younger Han Solo, as the second cast member to be added. Taking place years before A New Hope, audiences will meet a Lando who at this point in his life is "in his formative years as a scoundrel on the rise in the galaxy's underworld."
While Donald Glover's casting is undoubtedly exciting, it doesn't come as a complete shock. Mere hours after it was reported that Lando Calrissian would appear in the Han Solo movie back in August, Donald Glover was mentioned as being the top candidate for the role. However, we can presume that Disney and Lucasfilm wanted to audition other actors just to be safe, but in the end, they realized that Glover was the right man for the job. As those of you who have seen Glover's work know, not only is he a funny performer, but he can also be smooth when necessary. Humor and charm are two key components of Lando's personality, and honestly, we couldn't think of anyone better to succeed Billy Dee Williams as the future Cloud City administrator.
Donald Glover can currently be seen as Earnest Marks in the FX series Atlanta, while his other notable TV credits include playing Troy Barnes in Community and briefly voicing Miles Morales in Ultimate Spider-Man. On the big screen, he has appeared in The Muppets, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Magic Mike XXL and The Martian. Next year, he'll join the Marvel Cinematic Universe when he shows up in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Joining the world of Star Wars is just another example of how his blockbuster status is rising.
Along with Lando Calrissian, the Han Solo spinoff will also include the eponymous protagonist's other good buddy, Chewbacca. The movie has also tested Tessa Thompson, Naomi Scott and Zoe Kravitz for the female lead, although who that character will be hasn't been revealed. No plot details have been officially disclosed yet. All that's certain is the story will follow Han and Lando long before they became Rebel heroes and were deep into the seedier corners of a galaxy far, far away.
Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the Han Solo movie hits theaters on May 25, 2018.
