RUMOR: Is Donald Glover Returning as Lando for Disney+ Series?

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RUMOR: Is Donald Glover returning as Lando for Disney+ series?

While many fans have been itching for a follow-up to 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story for more of Alden Ehrenreich’s portrayal of the titular smuggler, more are hoping for the sequel to see Donald Glover return as Lando Calrissian and a new big rumor circulating may see fans get just that and more.

Star Wars-centric podcast Kessel Run Transmissions has reported in their latest episode that streaming platform Disney+ is currently developing a series centered on the gambler/con artist/original owner of the Millennium Falcon with the Atlanta creator/executive producer/star set to reprise the role from the box office disappointment.

We can finally announce that Donald Glover will be reprising his role as Lando in a future #StarWars series! What do you guys think of this news?? pic.twitter.com/TyQGjM0kdn

— Noah Outlaw (@OutlawNoah) July 22, 2020

There’s been no official word from the House of Mouse or Lucasfilm, or sources with inside knowledge on the state of the Star Wars universe and plans for future projects, though to Kessel Run Transmissions’ credit they did have the inside track on the upcoming Clone Wars spin-off series The Bad Batch prior to its official announcement.

It’s not entirely impossible that Glover would reprise the role in some shape or form for the future, with Ehrenreich recently teasing that he had word about a possible future for his iteration of Solo, but it seems highly unlikely that he would attach himself to a series strictly based on the fact he has very little time on his hands. The 36-year-old was prepping to shoot a third and fourth season of Atlanta back-to-back before the pandemic shut down production on the series and has a number of other projects in the works, both musically and visually, and though shooting consecutive seasons of his mammoth hit may clear up some time on the schedule, it’s hard to imagine him committing to another live-action series.

As a side character in a new Disney+ series or sequel to Solo is much more understandable and viable, as Glover consistently reiterated in the marketing for the film that despite its troubled production, he enjoyed playing the role and it showed, as his performance was one of the positive elements that stood out to critics even in more negative reviews. Though Disney isn’t necessarily shying away from continuing the story threads from Solo, especially given the cult following that’s built in the years since its release, it was still a financial flop and with their theme parks not bringing in as much money with everything being shutdown, the studio will want to ensure another Star Wars project doesn’t balloon to unreachable financial heights or see another tug-of-war with creative control between filmmakers and writers.

Directed by Ron Howard, the fun-filled galactic heist movie starred Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Thandie Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Paul Bettany. Joonas Suotamo returned to play Chewbacca.

Written by Jonathan Kasdan & Lawrence Kasdan, Solo: A Star Wars Story was produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Allison Shearmur and Simon Emanuel. Lawrence Kasdan, Jason McGatlin, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller remained attached as executive producers after being fired from the directorial position.