Back in late 2020, a handful of live-action Star Wars shows were announced to be joining The Mandalorian on Disney+ in the coming years. This included a series centered on Lando Calrissian, the character originated by Billy Dee Williams in The Empire Strikes Back, and whom Donald Glover played in Solo: A Star Wars Story. However, there haven’t been any updates on this Star Wars project since then, but now we know where it currently stands thanks to Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy.
CinemaBlend’s own Law Sharma had the opportunity to speak with Kathleen Kennedy at Star Wars Celebration, during which time he asked her if there’s been any word or movement on the Lando series. As it turns out, Donald Glover’s busy schedule is currently holding up this project from making any major progress forward, with Kathleen Kennedy saying:
You need to ask Donald. He's the one that holds all the cards here. But there's no movement. I will say that honestly. But it's not for lack of trying. It's just that he's a very busy guy. ... He's got another series, and I think one other thing, and then he'll come our way. So patiently waiting.
Although it wasn’t clarified during the original Lando announcement who would star in the series, given Billy Dee Williams’ age and that there are a lot of ways to follow Lando Calrissian’s life either before the events of Solo: A Star Wars Story or in the time period between that movie and The Empire Strikes Back, many assumed it would be Donald Glover leading the show. Kathleen Kennedy confirmed this is indeed the case, but because the actor, singer, director, producer and all-around entertainment talent has so much on his plate, the Lando series is basically frozen in carbonite right now. That’s not to say it will never happen, as Kennedy indicated Glover will eventually jump back into the world of Star Wars, but it may be a while until we reach that point.
The other series Kathleen Kennedy referred to that Donald Glover is working on is likely Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which has been set up on Amazon and is a reboot of the same-named 2005 movie starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. The Mr. & Mrs. Smith series was originally going to see Glover starring opposite his Solo co-star Phoebe Waller-Bridge, but she departed the project in September 2021, and in April, it was revealed that PEN15’s Maya Erskine is taking over that role. Glover also completed shooting the fourth and final season of FX’s Atlanta back in February.
Aside from Donald Glover’s involvement, all we know about the Lando series is that Dear White People writer and director Justin Simien is putting it together. So there are a lot of questions that need to be answered about this Star Wars show, and working off the latest information provided by Kathleen Kennedy, those answers are likely a long ways off. Still, it’s good to know that Lando is still on the Star Wars slate, as opposed to having been scrapped like Rangers of the New Republic.
Once specific details about Lando come in, we’ll pass them along. For now though, there are plenty of other upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows to look forward to, including the recently-announced Skeleton Crew, starring Jude Law.
