Solo: A Star Wars Story saw the return of the beloved Lando Calrissian to the big screen but this time played by Donald Glover as a younger version of the character. Granted, it wasn’t exactly a fantastic film but Lando did offer some fun moments and cool interactions with Han Solo. However, it looks like the original actor for Lando, Billy Dee Williams will be returning to the Star Wars saga for Episode IX.
Lando Calrissian was introduced way back in 1980 in possibly the best Star Wars film or hell, one of the greatest films of all time, The Empire Strikes Back. The character saw a return in Return of the Jedi but was absent in the installments of the Disney era Star Wars films despite some of the OG cast returning. It looks like that’s changing as he is slated to return for J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars Episode IX.
This comes from a report by The Hollywood Reporter who heard from sources of Williams’ return. It’s unclear what his role in the plot would be but it’s highly doubtful that Lando will be doing a bunch of action heavy stuff due to the actor’s age now that he’s 81 years old. Following the death of Carrie Fisher which led to a revised story for Episode IX along with the events of the previous films, Lando is a welcomed return. Lando will likely serve to represent the OG cast but it’s best not to rule out one particular character from making a brief return.
It’ll be cool to see how Lando interacts with Kylo Ren in particular but it can be deduced that his character will serve to pass the torch to the younger members of the series. Nonetheless, despite whatever’s going on in Lucasfilm and Disney, Episode IX is still something to look out for next year in December.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
