‘Lando’: Donald Glover Said Yes To Upcoming ‘Star Wars’ Film Out of Love for the Characters
Donald Glover has explained why he wants to make a Lando movie, which he is presently co-writing a screenplay for with his brother Stephen.
Talking to The Hollywood Reporter in time for the release of his Amazon Prime Video television series adapting Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Glover said the following when asked about whether or not writing a Lando film was something that he saw as easy, when discussing the power to turn down projects:
“Maya [Erskine, Glover’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-star] and I talk about ‘no’s a lot, it’s the only power you have in this industry. But I said yes because I like the characters and my kids love Star Wars.”
From there, he stated that he wanted to pursue the project because he felt that it had the potential to be great and that he wanted to leave the mark, going on about creative control on the project:
“At this point, I just know when something’s going to be good, because you’re really fighting the industry when you [put your imprint on a franchise of that magnitude]. And it’s not like… I was going to say, and it’s not like I hate the industry, but now I’m like, ‘Do I hate the industry?’ (Laughs.) I feel like I have enough control. And maybe you get painted as a control freak, but it’s like, yeah, control allows for the vision to be singular.
And if the vision is singular, people want it more. The less it’s singular, the less people want it because they feel like they could’ve made it. Look, we live in a time where anybody can fucking make anything. You go on TikTok, there’s literally every type of thing. There’s documentaries, there’s puppetry, there’s yarn stop-motion. So why would you want to see something you feel like you could have made?”
The upcoming Lando film (previously set to be a Disney Plus limited series) is one of several spin-offs said to be in development on the feature film side of things for Lucasfilm. Other candidates include The Mandalorian & Grogu, spinning off of three seasons of the hit streaming series, which is set to be the first Star Wars movie release since Lucasfilm prioritized live-action development for streaming.
Also on the docket: a film set after the events of The Rise of Skywalker that will see the return of Daisy Ridley as Rey Skywalker, a film serving as the culmination of the various shows tied to The Mandalorian, and a film that will explore the origins of the Jedi, none of which have been added to Disney’s calendar of release as of yet.
The current status of Lando is unknown, though we suspect it hasn’t moved beyond the writing phase yet. No further details are known.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
