Summary
Donald Glover has set a new first for theStar Warsfranchise alongside his brother with his upcoming Disney Plus seriesLando,where the star will reprise his role as Lando Calrissian from 2018’sSolo: A Star Wars Story.
Taking place 10 years before the events ofA New Hope,Solo: AStar WarsStorychronicles the early adventures of smuggler Han Solo and his loyal friend and partner in crime, Chewbacca, as they embark on a heist linked to the galaxy’s seedy criminal underworld. Constructed and billed as a space western, the film couldn’t overcome the fact thatStar Warsfans didn’t think Han Solo needed an origin story. While the film underperformed at the box office, even critics noted that it had a fun, fast-paced feel, with this perceived silver lining being due in no small part to Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian.
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A Star Warsshow focused on Lando Calrissian was confirmed for Disney Plus in 2020, andDonald Glover’s reprisal of the Lando rolewas confirmed soon after by insider sources. While Kathleen Kennedy revealed that there had been no solid progress on the project due to Donald Glover’s busy schedule, recent developments seem to confirm that the gears will grind at full speed soon enough.Varietyreported Donald Glover will take over as writer for the project alongside his brother Stephen Glover, an accomplished musician and screenwriter. This marks the first time a single person has written and starred in aStar Warsproject.
The Glover brothers took the new position behind the scenes after Justin Simien, originally pegged as showrunner at the time of the original announcement, exited theStar Warsproject. “I certainly poured my heart and spent a lot of time working with them to put together a really great show. It feels like everybody loves it,’ Simien said toThe Direct. “And, you know, I was told we had to put a pause on it because of scheduling, and the next update I got [was in 2020], some years ago. So I don’t know, I have no idea what’s going on with it.” Simien didn’t have to go far for his latest project, as he was chosen to headDisney’sHaunted Mansionmoviealongside high-profile actors Jamie Lee Curtis and Jared Leto, among others.
While a dark cloud hangs over Disney’s latest projects,Landois unlikely to start production anytime soon, as the strike action halting most projects extends to it, despite the Glover brothers signing on before the labor dispute kicked off. This delay will likely give the team behind the project an easy way to avoid the current wave of negative coverage. Additionally, the format chosen is already a step in the right direction, withLandoset to be written and produced as an episodic series, an approach that many fans have pointed outwould have servedSolo: A Star Wars Storywell. How well this spin-off will do and how far it will go to redeemSoloby association remains to be seen.
