Could Donald Glover be reprising the role of Lando Calrissian for a Disney+ series?
The rumors that Glover’s Calrissian would be stepping into a leading role have been around more or less since it was announced that the actor would be cast as Lando in 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story (made available for streaming on Disney+ just a few days ago, on July 9th, 2020).
Earlier today, a Tweet from the Star Wars Stuff account cited YouTube podcast Kessel Run Transmissions for the news that Glover’s Calrissian would lead a Disney+ series. However, there has yet to be any official announcement on StarWars.com about the potentially planet-destroying super-news.
The role of Calrissian was originated by Billy Dee Williams in 1980’s Star Wars Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, and he returned for 1983’s Star Wars Episode VI – The Return of the Jedi. Williams reprised the role himself in 2019’s Star Wars Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker.
While Glover has yet to personally appear in the original Star Wars material that has been released on Disney+, his influence has nevertheless been felt (and not just through the Force). According to The Mandalorian showrunner Jon Favreau, you can thank Childish Gambino himself for the genuine internet phenomena that was Baby Yoda, a.k.a. “The Only Good Part of 2020.” Favreau told Hollywood Reporter that Glover suggested the character be kept a surprise during conversations the two had during the production of 2019’s The Lion King.
Plus, in the Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian episode “The Score,” Favreau mentions that the Mandalorian’s composer Ludwig Göransson came recommended by Glover (as well as by Black Panther director Ryan Coogler).
If the rumors are indeed accurate and Glover’s Calrissian will be leading a Disney+ Lando series, it begs the question of where in the timeline the story would be set. In Solo, it is implied that Lando and his droid co-pilot, L3-37 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) had already flown from one side of the galaxy to the other in the Millenium Falcon having some pretty wild adventures. Best of all, said adventures were recorded for prosperity by Lando himself via the holographic Calrissian Chronicles.
In fact, you can already get a glimpse of this time period on the printed page thanks to an entry in the Flight of the Falcon story cycle.
In 2018’s Star Wars: Lando’s Luck, the middle grade graphic novel written by Justina Ireland and illustrated by Annie Wu, Lando and L3 get entangled in some royal drama thanks to Princess Rinetta of the planet Hynestia.
And in the 5-issue 2018 Lando: Double or Nothing miniseries from Marvel Comics by Rodney Barnes, Paolo Villanelli, Andres Mossa, VC’s Joe Caramagna, and W. Scott Forbes, Lando and L3 become involved in another adventure, this time trying to smuggle weapons onto a planet desperately in need of a revolution.
However, while the Calrissian Chronicles provide the opportunity for Lando stories set before Solo, there is plenty of narrative real estate in the period of time between Solo and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. And whether the story is set before or after Solo, there’s the possibility that Qi’ra – the small-time-street-womp-rat-turned-big-time-gangster played by Emilia Clarke – could appear.
Will a Lando Disney+ series starring Glover be announced at SDCC ’20? Will Enfrys Nest (Erin Kellyman) return? Could it be true – all of it?
