It’s been over a year since fans learned that Donald Glover and his brother, Stephen Glover, had taken over writing duties on the previously announced Lando project. The project was initially planned to be a Disney+ streaming series to be written by Justin Simien (Haunted Mansion) and would see Donald Glover once again in the role of Lando Calrissian, reprising the role after debuting as the character in 2018’s, Solo: A Star Wars Story. In addition to the news that Simien was off of the project and the Glover’s had come aboard as writers, it was also revealed by Stephen Glover that the duo were now writing the project as a movie and no longer a series.
It’s been quite a while since fans have received any news on the Lando project, but during a recent interview with Wall Street Journal, Donald Glover has shared a minor update, revealing that he’s still working on the project with his brother and his hopes for the film.
Glover brought up the topic of Lando himself during the interview when discussing how it feels to work so closely with his brother, who wrote on the critically acclaimed series, Atlanta. Stephen Glover also worked with Donald on his two Amazon Prime Video series, Swarm, and Mr & Mrs. Smith, the latter of which, like Atlanta, found critical acclaim. Glover said:
“I have nothing to say other than I’m really lucky. I get to work with my best friend all the time and it’s fun. And when we hang out, we work and that’s the best part. I’ll go to visit his kids and hang out, but we end up talking about ‘Lando’ and breaking a story or something like that. What else would you want? To be able to hang out with your friend and be like, ‘we’re actually doing work too’?” – Donald Glover
Following the unprompted Lando mention by Glover, WSJ naturally followed up and asked the musician and actor what he wants the Lando movie to be. Glover stressed that he just wants the effort to be fun and that Star Wars has been lacking that fun factor he’s hoping to put to screen in movie.
“I just want it to be fun. As a Star Wars fan myself I think it’s important to have fun. There needs to be more fun being had – it’s very hard to have fun right now. It’s tough because there are very serious things happening and they are the only things connecting us weirdly. I get why things are serious, but part of the human experience, I believe, is the ability to have enjoyment and I think we’re lacking in that department. Star Wars, I love it, but sometimes it be super serious. Sometimes it be way too serious. Everything that has to do with the Skywalker’s is so serious.” – Donald Glover
Glover went on to explain what he believes to be why audiences can relate to Calrissian, pointing towards Lando’s scoundrel persona and appetite for money against a back drop of a world or galaxy in chaos, “Lando, the best part about him is that he’s a scoundrel. People can relate to that and he’s probably like, ‘man, this war is whack. I need money’, which I feel like everyone can relate to. So I just want to bring fun to Star Wars, I just want Star Wars to be fun.”
I’m a huge fan of Donald Glover, as an actor, a musician and a comedian and can’t wait to see what he delivers with a Lando project. Personally I’m still not holding much hope of this film ever seeing the light of day, especially with Lucasfilm’s packed Star Wars theatrical schedule. I’ve also never thought that Lando as a film would work, that it would unfortunately suffer the same fate of Solo, becoming a box office failure. I always preferred the idea of a series, especially one from the Glover brothers as I’ve adored their TV work, namely Atlanta and Mr & Mrs Smith. I personally believe the first two seasons of Atlanta is some of the best TV ever made.
If this Lando project ever see’s the light of day, I hope that the Glover’s enlist a frequent collaborator of theirs, Hiro Murai, as a director. Murai directed episodes of Atlanta and Mr & Mrs Smith, as well as other high profile TV series such as Barry, Snowfall and Legion.
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