Donald Glover Says ‘Lando’ Film Still Lives and Will ‘Bring Fun’ Back to the ‘Star Wars’ Franchise

Samantha Bergeson
·2 min read
8

Donald Glover is still part of the “Star Wars” franchise with the resurrected “Lando” film.

The multi-hyphenate star told the Wall Street Journal in the below video that “Lando” is still in the works despite writer/director Justin Simien exiting the planned series. The Disney+ show was re-conceptualized as a film, with Glover and his brother Stephen Glover taking over.

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And Glover has a specific vision for how “Lando” can breathe new life into the franchise itself.

“I just want it to be fun, like, as a ‘Star Wars’ fan myself, I think it’s important that there just needs to be more fun being had,” Glover said. “It’s very hard to have fun right now. It’s tough because there are very serious things happening, and those are the only things that connect us, weirdly, so I get why things are serious, but, part of the human experience, I believe, is we have a responsibility to have enjoyment. And I just feel like we’re lacking in that department.”

Glover first appeared as Lando Calrissian in 2018 prequel film “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” The spinoff project was announced in 2020.

According to Glover, “Lando” will be the antidote to the “too serious” “Star Wars” installments.

“’Star Wars,’ I love it, but sometimes it be super serious. Sometimes it be, like, way too serious. It’s like everything that has to do with the Skywalkers, is like so serious,” Glover said. “Lando, I think the best part about him is he’s a scoundrel, you know, and I feel like people can relate to that. And he’s probably like, ‘Man, this war is wack. I need money,’ which I feel everyone can relate to. So, I want to just bring fun to ‘Star Wars’. I just want it to be fun.”

Former “Lando” director Simien told Collider that he only learned of the slated series being scrapped once it was made public.

“It became clear. They probably won’t want me to say this, but I knew it was official when I read it in the trades,” he said. “But the writing was super on the wall.”

Simien added of working within a franchise like “Star Wars,” “I can’t obviously take the storyline or the IP or the characters, but there’s so much more that I got, as a maker, and that’s mine. Sorry, it’s too late, you can’t take that part back.”

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