LOS ANGELES, Oct 22 — Donald Glover is headed to a galaxy far, far away.
The actor has been cast as Lando Calrissian in the upcoming young Han Solo Star Wars spin-off, Starwars.com announced yesterday.
Disney and Lucasfilm’s untitled Han Solo spin-off is slated for 2018 and is from directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Alden Ehrenreich is starring as Solo, playing the role made iconic by Harrison Ford.
Billy Dee Williams first inhabited the role of Calrissian, who made his appearance as the head of Cloud City, a floating city above the planet Bespin, in The Empire Strikes Back. He has a competitive and strained friendship with Solo, having lost the starship Millennium Falcon to the smuggler and future Rebel commander in a card game. Sources say the film will show how Lando lost the Millennium Falcon to Han.
The upcoming film will explore a previously unseen side of Lando, with Lucasfilm saying it will show “his formative years as a scoundrel on the rise in the galaxy’s underworld.”
“We’re so lucky to have an artist as talented as Donald join us,” said Lord and Miller in a statement. “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 apologise to Donald for ruining Comic-Con for him forever.”
Glover is a favourite in the fan community. Fans launched a campaign calling for him to play Spider-Man when Sony was working on the reboot that eventually became 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man. Though the role went to Andrew Garfield, Glover later voiced Spider-Man Miles Morales on Disney XD’s animated series Ultimate Spider-Man, and he is part of the cast of next year’s Spider-Man: Homecoming in a mystery role. Glover also gained acclaim this year for creating and starring in the FX series Atlanta. — The Hollywood Reporter/Bloomberg
