Did the recent trailer for ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ not excite you? Was the ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ just not enough for you? Well, don’t worry. The latest news about the upcoming Han Solo movie might get you right at the level of excited.
Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino aka the creator of ‘Atlanta’, otherwise known as the best show on television, has been cast as the role of Lando Calrissian in the upcoming unnamed Han Solo standalone film. The news was announced on the official Star Wars site.
Lucasfilm announced today that Donald Glover, an acclaimed actor, award-winning writer, and Grammy-nominated artist, will be playing the part of Lando Calrissian in the still-untitled Han Solo Star Wars film, helmed by directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.
This new film depicts Lando in his formative years as a scoundrel on the rise in the galaxy’s underworld — years before the events involving Han, Leia, and Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back and his rise to Rebel hero in Return of the Jedi.
“We’re so lucky to have an artist as talented as Donald join us,” said Lord and Miller. “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 apologize to Donald for ruining Comic-Con for him forever.”
Glover will be playing the role Billy Dee Williams made famous back in the 1980’s. The smuggler, gambler, and card player became Baron Administrator of Cloud City and then eventually (spoiler alert) turned on Han, Luke Skywalker, and the other rebels by bringing them right to Darth Vader. In this upcoming Han Solo film, we’ll get a chance to learn about how Han and Lando became close friends leading up to the events which took place in the original trilogy and also get a little insight into their respective backstories.
While Donald is known more now for his recent success on his show ‘Atlanta’ he’s had a pretty solid career dating back to his days as a writer on ’30 Rock’. He went on to star as ‘Troy’ in the NBC show ‘Community’ and then followed that up with a solid stint in the rap game before hopping back into the acting business. He’s also slated to star in the upcoming ‘Spiderman: Homecoming’ film coming out in 2017.
Glover joins Alden Ehrenreich who has already been cast to play the lead role of Han Solo.
The unnamed Han Solo film is set to hit theaters in 2018.
