News broke in July that Donald and Stephen Glover had been tapped by Disney and Lucasfilm to replace Justin Simien as the writers of a new “Lando” television series on Disney+. But not so fast. The project is actually being developed as a “Lando” movie, Lucasfilm confirmed to Variety. Glover debuted as a young Lando Calrissian in the 2018 “Star Wars” tentpole “Solo,” which was a notable box office disappointment for Disney and Lucasfilm.
Stephen Glover first dropped the news of a “Lando” movie on a recent appearance on the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast, telling the host, “It’s not even a show…the idea right now is to do a movie. Right now, because of the strike, it’s kind of like telephone, all of the information.” That’s all the info Stephen could provide. Lucasfilm confirmed the news afterwards.
News first broke of a Lando Calrissian limited series being in the works in December 2020. At the time, “Dear White People” creator Justin Simien was attached to the project. He exited and was replaced by the Glover brothers, who are developing it as a movie. The character of Lando was originally played by Billy Dee Williams in “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi.”
Donald Glover revealed in a video interview with GQ magazine in April that he was talking to Lucasfilm about another Lando-centric project in the “Star Wars” universe. He said, “We’re talking about it. That’s as much as I can say without [Lucasfilm president] Kathleen Kennedy hunting me down.”
“Lando is charm incarnate,” Glover continued at the time. “He’s kind of a maverick, which I don’t think there’s a lot of anymore. It’s hard to be the smooth talker nowadays. Where’s the line? That’s also where the danger is. How close can you get without tripping over it?”
Glover added, “I would love to play Lando again. It’s a fun time, being him. It just has to be the right way to do it. Time is precious. The past couple of years, this pandemic shit, it really had people experience time… People realize their time is valuable. You only get so much. I’m not interested in doing anything that’s going to be a waste of my time or just a paycheck. I’d much rather spend time with people that I enjoy. It just has to be the right thing, and I think it could be. Lando is definitely somebody I like to hang out with.”
Watch Stephen Glover’s full appearance on the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast below.
Additional reporting by Adam B. Vary