Donald Glover’s Lando steals the ‘Solo’ show
Red-hot actor draws cheers in role of smooth-talking Star Wars smuggler
Smuggler Lando Calrissian has pulled off his biggest score: stealing Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Donald Glover’s Lando, the role he inherited from Billy Dee Williams, has outshone and out-swaggered his frenemy Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) — whose name is in the title — at every turn.
The signs of his force are everywhere, with the Fandango FanShop reporting that Lando merchandise is moving at twice the pace of Han merchandise ahead of the movie arriving in theaters on May 25. At the world premiere of Solo in Hollywood, the undisputed biggest cheer of the night came 45 minutes into the movie when Calrissian first appeared.
“The movie is called Solo, but people have really focused on Lando since the first trailer dropped,” says Shawn Edwards, co-founder of the African American Film Critics Association. “Lando is the man!”
Here’s how he pulled off the heist:
Glover is the biggest star in the universe right now.
The Han Solo torch has been passed from Harrison Ford to highly respected upand-coming actor Ehrenreich. (Most moviegoers don’t know him — yet — but he rocked the Coen brothers’ 2016 comedy Hail, Caesar!)
Meanwhile, Glover, who earned geek cred as Troy Barnes on Community, has shot to superstardom in music (performing as Childish Gambino) and movies ( SpiderMan: Homecoming) while also creating and starring in FX’s Atlanta (which earned him a 2017 Golden Globe Award).
His hilarious stint hosting Saturday Night Live was a showcase for his burgeoning powers, culminating in the unveiling of his politically powerful Childish Gambino song This Is America — which shot to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. “Donald Glover is at the epicenter of pop culture right now,” says Erik Davis, managing editor of the movie site Fandango.com.
“People are fascinated by Donald,” says Solo screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan. “And that’s the way Lando should be played.”
Lando is a beloved character making a big return.
There is a lot of pent-up love for Calrissian, who first started sparring verbally with Han Solo in 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back.
He has all the rebel coolness of Solo, whom he famously betrayed, with cooler outfits.
Most of the other beloved Star Wars characters, from Luke to Leia, have returned to the revitalized franchise except Lando — until now.
“Knowing Lando Calrissian was coming back in Solo was enough to get the Star Wars community really excited,” Davis says. “He’s a suave fan favorite, and you never know whose side he’s on.”
The ‘Black Panther’ effect carried into ‘Solo.’
The cultural box-office explosion from February’s Black Panther has carried into Solo and Glover’s Calrissian — one of the few black characters depicted in space, as Glover hilariously pointed out in an SNL skit.
“Black Panther created this whole cinematic energy which has benefited Solo,” Edwards says. “It unleashed this appetite for cool black characters and actors.”
We’re here for the Lando capes.
Glover, long known as Hollywood’s snappiest dresser, will make magic as the cape-donning, best-dressed character in the universe.
“There’s a suit at the end of this movie, I would wear that out,” Glover said at the Solo premiere. “And you start falling in love with capes in general. It’s like, why don’t people wear capes anymore? They look so fresh. You can’t top a good cape.”