Never mind that the movie is titled Solo: A Star Wars Story. Donald Glover’s performance as Lando Calrissian only looks more exciting with every TV spot.
If there’s a character in Star Wars from the original trilogy that deserves as much love as he can get, it’s Lando Calrissian. How do you march into a trilogy in the second movie with a similar background to one of its main characters and make your own space? You be charming, you wear the hell out of some clothes, and you pronounce your putative good friend’s name a little differently than pretty much everyone else does. So far, Solo: A Star Wars Story has done a good job teasing fans about just how much Lando we’ll get to see in the movie.
But in the latest TV spot for the film, it seems as though Star Wars knows what we’re here for.
And we’re here for Donald Glover pronouncing Han Solo’s name in the style of one Billy Dee Williams:
From flirting with Qi’Ra and knocking Han in the process to expressing some love for the Millennium Falcon, Solo‘s version of Lando seems to jibe really well with the character we met in Empire. Glover’s smoothness definitely helps that along.
But the dedication to even pronouncing — or, if you will, mispronouncing, but Lando Calrissian does what he pleases — Han’s name in the same way shows a real dedication to the character on Glover’s part. He won’t be the exact same as Williams because it’s been nearly 40 years since the character first came to life… and also he’s not Williams. It’s that simple. But Glover honestly feels like the very best fit for Lando, and he has since his casting way back when.
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This TV spot only serves as more evidence that that’s true, and hey, even if the movie isn’t so great, at least we have a great young Lando when Solo arrives on May 25.