While not everybody is sold on the upcoming Han Solo movie, a lot of people are already in love with Donald Glover's portrayal of Lando Calrissian. It seems that number in this case also includes Lucasfilm. Reportedly, studio chief Kathleen Kennedy has mentioned what a lot of people have been asking for since about the time the first trailers for Solo: A Star Wars Story were released. Donald Glover's Lando Calrissian may be getting his own spin-off movie. According to Kennedy...
We think that the next spin-off will be dedicated to Lando Calrissian. Of course, there are still many stories to tell about Han and Chewbacca, but Lando will be next.
The reveal came when Kathleen Kennedy spoke to Premiere France. Based on the context of the quotes (originally in French), it sounds like this Lando spin-off will be "next" in the sense that it will be the chapter that follows Solo, not that it necessarily will be the next Star Wars movie to go into production or even the next Star Wars Stroy spin-off movie to come out. Although, it's so early that it's difficult to be sure of any of that.
The question of what will come to the Star Wars universe after Episode IX is released has yet to be answered, but there are numerous potential answers. The current rumor has been that an Obi-Wan Kenobi movie is already in pre-production, though that has never been confirmed. We know that Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson is working on a new trilogy and the pair behind Game of Thrones is also working on future films. We know Lucasfilm was working on a Boba Fett movie at one point, and rumors of that project have never entirely gone away. We can now add a Lando movie to the list of films we expect to see, with no idea when we actually expect to see them.
From the first look at Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, a lot of fans got the feeling he would be perfect in Solo: A Star Wars Story. If Lucasfilm is ready to say that a Lando movie is on the way when it's not ready to commit to any direct sequels to Solo, then it would seem that the studio feels the same way. It's an especially strong vote of support considering that the general audience hasn't even seen the performance yet. Kathleen Kennedy says whether or not direct sequels to Solo happen will depend on audience response and box office success.
And so it seems that we can all look forward to more Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian down the road, at some point, eventually. We don't know when we'll see Lando again after Solo: A Star Wars Story, but when we do, he'll take the lead.
UPDATE: In the time since the story was originally published, LucasFilm reached out to Premiere and offered a clarification of Kathleen Kennedy's quote, saying Star Wars is interested in making a Lando movie when it's relevant. So, that may be next. It may be somewhere down the line, but given the early buzz about Lando, I think most people are crossing their fingers it'll be soon. You can read Premiere's explanation here.
