As the Han Solo movie continues to come together, Donald Glover’s enthusiasm for playing Lando Calrissian may be the best news yet.
While we assume the world’s most iconic smuggler probably has more than a few stories to tell, the Han Solo film will be somewhat of an origin story. In addition to seeing Han and Chewie’s early days, we’ll see a young Lando Calrissian, presumably from the days when the Millennium Falcon was like the hot girl at school that Han and Lando fought over.
Obviously, everybody loves Han Solo. Though casting Alden Ehrenreich may not be the best news for some of us, at least he has a talented partner in crime. Thanks to his two Golden Globes wins over the weekend, Donald Glover is clearly on the rise and brings a lot of talent to the franchise. Moreover, he’ll likely make an excellent Lando Calrissian after Billy Dee Williams originated the role. Glover appears to be as laid back and smooth talking at Calrissian. Plus, he understands how important the role is.
As he told USA Today:
"“Lando’s a big deal to me. It was literally the first toy I ever got. When you have something that’s kind of iconic…where people pay attention to it, it’s hard because you want to live up to the expectation. But all you can do is live up to your own. And Star Wars is really high.”"
The fear that I have about big names like Woody Harrelson joining the franchise is that they’ll turn Star Wars into just another paycheck and won’t allow themselves to be consumed by the role. But Star Wars deserves to consume you, so it’s comforting to hear that Glover takes this so seriously.
But, you know, not too seriously:
"“I really just want to have fun. The directors: they’re amazing. I love the guy who is playing Han. It’s going to be a good time. It’s going to be fun. I’m getting ready to just have fun with those guys.”"
The Han Solo movie was originally supposed to open May 2018, but may get pushed back to December, so stay tuned.
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In the meantime, and for a good taste of Glover’s style, you can check out Atlanta on FX.