Forget Solo: A Star Wars Story or Kenobi: A Star Wars Story. Lando: A Star Wars Story is probably going to surface sooner rather than later.
How much do you trust Kathleen Kennedy’s pronouncements about the future of Star Wars? The answer should probably be somewhere in the positive range, and if it’s not, this news should probably bump it up a little more. At the Cannes Film Festival, Kathleen Kennedy told Premiere France (with a hat tip to ComicBook) that yes, Lucasfilm’s thinking has expanded to include the possibility of a Lando Calrissian solo movie. (That pun is absolutely intended.)
With the assist of Google Translate, here’s a rough translation of what she said: “There are still many stories to be told about Han and Chewbacca, but Lando will be next.”
Take a deep breath, everyone. Here we thought that this might not happen. Even Premiere and ComicBook both note the long-gestating chatter around an Obi-Wan film. In fact, rumors even surfaced that that was to shoot in Belfast.
So what sort of schedule can we expect if Lando is suddenly next in the pipeline? Well, it’s not impossible that Lando’s film could be in 2020, with Obi-Wan’s standalone following in 2021, as ComicBook also acknowledges. Remember, the sequel trilogy ends in 2019 with Episode IX, so the standalones can then move to a one-a-year strategy after that. (Granted, Lucasfilm might go full Marvel and release multiple films a year, but even yours truly might find that to be excessive.)
Update: io9 reports that Lucasfilm now says that the quote may not be entirely accurate, but didn’t deny the possibility of the Lando movie outright.
That not only secures movies surrounding two particularly popular characters, but it also gives Lucasfilm some time to start thinking about who it wants to cover next, like, oh, I don’t know, putting another woman in the lead. (Hey, if Mara Jade really is coming back to the canon, we’d watch a young Mara Jade movie in a heartbeat. Actually, we’d probably watch it multiple times.)
Next: 3 wishes for Lando: A Star Wars Story
What do you make of this news, Star Wars fans? Are you ready for a Lando film?