Originally published January 10, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
Fresh off his Golden Globe wins for his FX series Atlanta, Donald Glover is getting ready to step into the galaxy far, far away by portraying a younger version of Lando Calrissian – played by Billy Dee Williams in the original Star Wars trilogy – in the untitled Han Solo anthology film. As with lead actor Alden Ehrenreich, there is a lot of expectation on them to take over such iconic roles and the importance of that is not lost on Glover.
Speaking to USA Today, Glover said “Lando’s a big deal to me. It was literally the first toy I ever got. When you have something that’s kind of iconic … where people pay attention to it, it’s hard because you want to live up to the expectation. But all you can do is live up to your own. And Star Wars is really high. I really just want to have fun. The directors: (Christopher Miller and Phil Lord), they’re amazing. I love the guy who is playing Han (Alden Ehrenreich). It’s going to be a good time. It’s going to be fun. I’m getting ready to just have fun with those guys.”
The second Star Wars Story is currently prepping for a February start date with locations in the Canary Islands and Italy reportedly being scouted.
The untitled Han Solo film sees Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The LEGO Movie) directing a cast that includes Alden Ehrenreich as the titular smuggler, Donald Glover (Spider-Man: Homecoming) as Lando Calrissian and Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) in as-yet-unrevealed role, with Woody Harrelson (The Hunger Games) rumoured to be a mentor figure to everyone’s favourite smuggler.
