LANDO CALRISSIAN

The smoothest criminal

Billy Dee Williams had lando Calrissian down cold. From the moment we first saw him, cloak fluttering in the breeze in the clouds above Bespin and pulling one hell of a practical joke on the usually unflappable Han solo (“you slimy, double-crossing, no-good swindler. you’ve got a lot of guts coming here, after what you pulled”), it was hard to imagine a smoother individual.but then it happened. Holding court at a sabacc table, and wearing a yellow and black shirt only he could possibly pull off, here was lando — but somehow an even cooler version. Donald Glover had not only successfully taken the baton, he’d sprinted off into the distance with it.

But whichever portrayal you favour, one thing unites them — in both the Original Trilogy and Solo, lando Calrissian is charm personified. indeed, while Solo is the first Star Wars film to have a title character, from the very beginning our attention was drawn away from Han and to his (occasional) friend. (and it was reported lando’s merchandise sold at twice the rate of Han’s.) Perhaps it was because, while we’d seen solo in The Force Awakens, it had been 35 years since Calrissian had last been on screen. Or maybe it was because he had the twinkling devilry of an über-scoundrel — one that was destined, in time, to take control of an entire mining colony solely based on the strength of his hustle. Or maybe it was the ’tache. Whatever it was, we were smitten.

He eventually, just like Han solo, decided to leave his rogueish days behind him and join the Rebel alliance. But, while Han was running around a forest, being captured by teddy bears, lando was back in the cockpit of the millennium Falcon (his ship), flying into the core of the second Death star to destroy it (and the emperor in the process) before emerging triumphant seconds ahead of a fiery explosion. Now if that’s not cool, we don’t know what is. and if reports are to be believed that Williams will return for Episode IX, there's more of that to come.