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Donald Glover Will Be Playing A Young Lando In 'Star Wars'
Donald Glover speaks onstage at the 'Atlanta' New York Screening at The Paley Center for Media on August 23, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)
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There ain't a lot of brothers out there in space, but Donald Glover can now join their ranks.On Friday, the official Star Wars website announced the casting of Glover as the young Lando Calrissian in the forthcoming young Han Solo film.
Glover as lando! I'm PUMPED
— John Boyega (@JohnBoyega) October 21, 2016
The currently-untitled film is set for release in 2018, with breakout star Alden Ehrenreich already cast as the smuggler who once did the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs. "We're so lucky to have an artist as talented as Donald join us," said directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (the same guys who did The Lego Movie). "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."
Aside from the casting, details are scant about the young Han Solo film, but Disney says it will show Calrissian "in his formative years as a scoundrel on the rise in the galaxy's underworld." The Hollywood Reporter is also reporting that the film will depict how Calrissian lost the Millennium Falcon to Solo. According to Star Wars mythology he lost it to Solo in a game of sabacc, "fair and square."
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Glover got his break as a writer for 30 Rock and became one of the stars of Community before moving on to a big role in Magic Mike XXL and eventually being the creator and one of the stars of the critically-acclaimed show Atlanta. Variety says the production schedule for Atlanta has been rearranged to accommodate Star Wars. Oh yeah, and he also has a music career, rapping as Childish Gambino.
Billy Dee Williams played Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, but was sadly not part of the reunion that was The Force Awakens. However, he has lent his voice to several animated Star Wars shows and movies and even played his iconic character in Lord and Miller's Lego Movie.
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