The force is strong with Donald Glover!
Lucasfilm announced Friday that the actor has been cast as a young Lando Calrissian for the upcoming standalone Star Wars film centered on the life of a young Han Solo, played by Alden Ehrenreich.
The character of Lando Calrissian appeared in Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi in the original Star Wars trilogy. He was portrayed by Billy Dee Williams.
“This new film depicts Lando in his formative years as a scoundrel on the rise in the galaxy’s underworld — years before the events involving Han, Leia, and Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back and his rise to Rebel hero in Return of the Jedi,” the press release reads.
“We’re so lucky to have an artist as talented as Donald join us,” the film’s directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller said. “These are big shoes to fill, and an even bigger cape, and this one fits him perfectly, which will save us money on alterations. Also, we’d like to publicly apologize to Donald for ruining Comic-Con for him forever.”
Glover previously starred in Community and created the FX series Atlanta, which he also stars in. He is set to appear in the upcoming Marvel film Spiderman: Homecoming. In addition, he has been nominated for a Grammy under the name of Childish Gambino.
The currently untitled Han Solo film is slated to arrive in theaters in 2018.
