Solo: A Star Wars Story's Donald Glover already knows where he wants to see Lando go next. His name might not be the one on the theater marquee, but it's clear Glover's Lando Calrissian is going to be a scene-stealer in the young Han Solo film. The character made a splash while barely saying a word in the original Solo teaser trailer, and he's only continued to impress in footage from the film ever since. Lucasfilm even released an entire featurette dedicated to showing off Lando's "cape room" aboard the Millennium Falcon.
Billy Dee Williams as the older Lando has been conspicuously absent from the Star Wars sequel trilogy and isn't expected to appear in Episode IX, either. The Lando character's future on the big screen thus lies with Glover's younger version of the charming gambler and former Cloud City Baron Administrator. If Glover reprises the role after this month's Solo, it will almost certainly be in future adventures featuring Alden Ehrenreich as the charismatic smuggler named Han. However, should a Lando spinoff ever come to pass, Glover already has an idea that could work for it.
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Screen Rant interviewed Glover at the Solo junket this past week and asked him where he wants to see Lando go next in the Star Wars films. The Atlanta star said he likes the idea of Lando being the star of his own con artist adventure, in the vein of Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can:
Screen Rant: Lando can do anything and he does. Like in Empire (Strikes Back) he starts off betraying the Rebels and then by Return (of the Jedi) he's a Rebel General. Where would you like to see Lando go next?
Donald Glover: I really just want to see him, like doing all of that. Still doing anything. Like, I think that would just be fun to just see him just like... Because like, we see him change so much... He's just like, I think charismatic and people are like, you know what, you should own this city. You should own Cloud City, like that kind of thing, or like winning. So I think it would be just nice to see like, oh, like I'm a General, and now I'm mad at this hotel, and then now, I'm just like... I think that will be just funny but also cool to see like how far charm gets you. Almost like a 'Catch Me If You Can. A space 'Catch Me If You Can' .
Solo director Ron Howard says there aren't "concrete plans" for sequels just yet, but it's safe to assume Lando will return if they happen. Glover's version is still a ways off from becoming the smooth-talking city administrator weighed down by his responsibilities that Williams played first in The Empire Strikes Back, so there's room to explore Glover's idea about how far Lando can get by on his charm alone. As much fun as it would be to follow Lando's adventures in his own movie, a Solo followup can also do the concept justice.
The Solo movies can distinguish themselves from other Star Wars films by exploring the seedier side of a galaxy far, far away in the way that Glover is suggesting here. Solo is essentially a heist movie set in space and future sequels could build on that by playing in similar genres featuring con artists, hustlers, and crooks who make a living by talking their way out of trouble. It would certainly be fun to see what other jobs Lando charmed his way into, before landing his famous Cloud City gig.
