Donald Glover Is The First Choice For Young Lando Calrissian
This morning The Wrap broke the story that Lando Calrissian will be in the upcoming Han Solo: A Star Wars Story (real title to be determined). I gotta admit, my heart sank a bit - I've been trying to get a confirmation on this exact story for the last week. But now with The Wrap acting as a de facto second source, lemme tell you the other piece of the puzzle that I'm hearing:
Donald Glover is the first choice for Young Lando.
Will he do it? I'm not even sure there's an offer out there, but at Star Wars Celebration this year directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller told a story about hiring Alden Ehrenreich to play Han Solo - they saw hundreds, if not thousands, of young men, but in the end they went with Ehrenreich, who was the first actor they saw and their first choice. So while the directors may still be meeting with actors, it isn't out of the range of possibility that their first choice is who they will end up with (if Glover wants the part. I'm not 100% sure I see him taking a role like this).
Glover seems like a good choice - he's both funny and smooth, and he's serious enough to be a real action star. Most crucially I think he would play the role without just doing an imitation of Billy Dee Williams, or some kind of silly riff on the character.
Will it be Glover? We'll see, but I'm hearing that's who they want. Speculate away.
Photo used under a Creative Commons license. Photographer: Eli Watson.