Donald Glover, Star Of Lando, Will Now Co-Write The Series For Disney+
For years now, Lucasfilms' "Lando" series has been one of the biggest "we'll believe it when we see some movement on it" Star Wars projects around. Well, today's breaking news definitely counts as movement: i09 and Gizmodo have confirmed an earlier report that Donald Glover isn't just set to star in the Disney+ series about Lando Calrissian, but will also co-write the series, too. His brother and fellow "Atlanta" writer-producer Stephen Glover is set to pen the show with him, while "Dear White People" filmmaker Justin Simien's involvement in the project seems at best up in the air, but he looks to be off the project.
Apparently, the change in screenwriters came before the current SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, when Gizmodo reports that Simien chose to focus full-time on "The Haunted Mansion," which is set for a theatrical release tomorrow. This doesn't seem to be a clear consensus, though, since The Hollywood Reporter asked Simien about his involvement in an interview published just hours ago, and he responded:
"I am attached, I think, but I don't really know. The last thing I was told was that they loved it but needed to put a pin in it until they could figure out everybody's availability. I haven't investigated further, but I'm not an idiot. I'm not alone in that experience. But I can't help but wonder, "Am I too Black? Am I too queer? And people just don't want to say that?" Because it seems like I develop things with these companies and they just never happen for reasons unknown."
Star Wars by way of Atlanta?
According to Gizmodo, there was a behind-the-scenes switch-up and the studio ended up reaching out to the Glover brothers to pitch their version of the project, which Lucasfilm reportedly loved. All of this means Glover's vague comment about progress on the show earlier this year suddenly makes a lot more sense. "We're talking about it," he told GQ back in April, adding, "That's as much as I can say without [Lucasfilm president] Kathleen Kennedy hunting me down."
Glover first played suave smuggler Lando in "Solo: A Star Wars Story," and while that movie didn't exactly inspire strong enough fan love to necessitate a sequel, his Lando was a clear standout, and a Lando-centric project was officially announced in December 2020. Of course, not every "Star Wars" film or TV show comes to fruition, and not much has been said about the series since — except that it's still happening. Kennedy mentioned that Lucasfilm was "still talking about Lando with Donald Glover" in May, and in the aforementioned GQ interview, Glover said he'd love to return to the character, but that "it just has to be the right way to do it." It's starting to look like the right way for him may turn out to be via a script co-written with his brother.
The Lando "Star Wars" series does not yet have a release date.