Donald Glover's Lando Is Now A Proper Star Wars Movie Instead Of A Disney+ Series
Honestly, it must be awesome to be a high-level studio executive. You get to sit around all day long, rake in millions by delegating jobs to other people, and make all sorts of bank-breaking decisions at the drop of a hat — like waffling back on forth endlessly over whether to make the next big slice of the IP pie into a movie or a streaming series. Well, the pendulum has apparently swung the other way, because we have a fresh, new update on Lucasfilm's "Lando" production.
Originally conceived as a spin-off movie, "Lando" would've ideally ridden on the coattails of 2018's "Solo: A Star Wars Story" prequel film and given Donald Glover an even greater chance to shine, especially since he was widely agreed to be one of the few highlights from that dud of a movie. (Alden Ehrenreich, another highlight, was and always will be innocent!) Of course, once "Solo" bombed hard upon release, those plans subsequently were put on the shelf for the time being. That is, until Lucasfilm revived it in a big way with a major update, except now it would be reimagined as a Disney+ series. Now, the project is in for yet another overhaul, as Variety reports that "Lando" will now (once again) take the form of a feature film to be released on the big screen.
Got all that? Good. Because my head's still spinning. After reports began to make the rounds earlier in the day following some off-the-cuff comments by Glover's brother and creative partner, Stephen Glover, the studio directly confirmed the news to Variety. There's little in the way of concrete updates beyond that, which makes sense given the ongoing WGA strikes, but fans of Glover's performance as the lovable rogue now officially have more to look forward to.
Is this the right call?
It's a bit of an understatement to say that, despite the overall box office success of the sequel trilogy and the strong performance of Disney+ shows like "The Mandalorian" and "Andor," Disney has had a rough go of it since purchasing Lucasfilm from original creator George Lucas over a decade ago. While "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" cleared a billion dollars at the box office and jumpstarted the spin-off movies, "Solo" quickly and dramatically pumped the brakes on those plans when it crashed and burned among audiences and critics. After all sorts of PR talk about learning their lessons from the film, it seemed the best course of action would be to either develop any further spin-offs as streaming shows (like "The Book of Boba Fett") or simply cancel them altogether.
But apparently, the powers that be are feeling mighty bullish "Lando" will succeed where "Solo" did not, as they're now willing to risk yet another potential high-profile flop by releasing a movie about Lando Calrissian (which was once meant to include star Billy Dee Williams in his classic role) in theaters worldwide. This news follows the last major update we received, which indicated that Glover would also add co-writing duties along with his brother in addition to starring. Importantly, Variety notes that while "no developing or negotiating with the Glover brothers is taking place" as a result of the strikes, all parties involved will begin development as soon as the ink on a new WGA and SAG-AFTRA deal is dry.
I'm not 100% sure this is the right course to take, especially with the theatrical future of "Star Wars" so unclear at this present moment in time.