Lando Calrissian will return in Star Wars Episode IX, with Billy Dee Williams reprising his cape-clad role in live-action form for the first time since Return Of The Jedi in 1983.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the news, with sources telling the publication that Williams is lined up to join the production of Star Wars Episode IX this summer.
Rumours to this effect had been in full swing for a couple of weeks, ever since Williams cancelled an appearance at the Saskatchewan Entertainment Expo due to a filming conflict.
Billy Dee Williams first played Lando in 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back, and he has stuck close to the role over the last few years. Although he never physically donned the cloak again after Jedi, until now, Williams did lend his unmistakable vocal tones to Lando’s animated appearances in Star Wars Rebels, The Lego Movie, The Yoda Chronicles, Droid Tales, The Freemaker Adventures and Star Wars: Detours. He also voiced Lando in the video games Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: Battlefront II.
Donald Glover recently played a younger Lando in Solo: A Star Wars Story, a film that explored the rocky relationship between Han and Lando and allowed us to glimpse the era before the Falcon changed hands. Solo even hinted at Lando having solo adventures, with Glover’s iteration of the character recording a dramatic diary entitled The Calrissian Chronicles.
It’s unclear how large of a role Lando will have in Episode IX, but it’s exciting to know he’ll be in it. We don’t know if Lando is back in Cloud City at this stage or if he has an active role in the Resistance, or whether he is up to something completely different, but we look forward to finding out more when Star Wars Episode IX hits UK cinemas on December 19th 2019.