Billy Dee Williams says “there’s only one Lando Calrissian”
The original Star Wars trilogy birthed many truly iconic supporting characters, with one of the most famous being Han Solo’s old friend and administrator of Cloud City, Lando Calrissian, played by Billy Dee Williams.
Despite having a career of over six decades and appearing in numerous critically acclaimed titles such as 1975’s Mahogany, 1981’s Nighthawks, and 1989’s Batman, Calrissian remains the character Williams is synonymous with. He first appeared in the 1980 sequel The Empire Strikes Back, making Williams the first Black actor with a major role in the franchise.
Williams reprised the role in 1983’s Return of the Jedi, marking the last time he played Calrissian until 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, the third instalment in J.J. Abrams’ sequel trilogy. This confirmed it as one of the most extensive intervals between playing a character in American movie history.
However, Williams isn’t the only person who has brought Calrissian to life. In the 2018 standalone origin story, Solo: A Star Wars Story, which followed the emergence of Han Solo, Donald Glover – the comedian and actor known for Community and Atlanta – as well as his musical efforts under the moniker Childish Gambino, played a younger version of the character.
In 2020, it was announced that a limited Disney+ series about Calrissian was being developed, with Justin Simien attached to the project. Then, in July 2023, it was revealed that Glover and his brother Stephen were replacing the outgoing Simien as writers of the series, which is now being turned into a feature-length movie.
In a new interview with Radio Times, Williams reflected on Glover’s portrayal of Calrissian and maintained that there’s only one true version of the space rogue. “I had a nice little lunch with him. He’s a delightful young man. Extremely talented,” Williams said. “But I don’t see him… I mean, when it comes to Lando Calrissian there’s only one Lando Calrissian. I created that character.”
He did offer him a key piece of advice for the portrayal to Glover, though, to “be charming”, which is the essence of the character.
“He’s part of a whole new generation. He’ll create whatever he needs to create, to bring appeal to the character,” Williams said of his younger counterpart. “He’s a very talented young lad and very imaginative. I mean, it’s not for me to say what he should do with the character at this stage.”
Concluding, Williams was asked whether he would ever reprise the role of Calrissian and maintained, seemingly in a dig at Disney: “Pay me a lot of money, and I’ll sell my soul.”
In other Donald Glover news, in February, he confirmed he was committed to the Community movie that Dan Harmon and Andrew Guest are working on. “It’s really just a schedule thing,” he said regarding getting round to reading the script, “[but] I’m in. I’m all in.”
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