Star Wars: The Last Jedi has no place for Lando Calrissian, the smooth-talking smuggler of Cloud City.
First introduced via Empire all those years ago, many fans had hoped that Billy Dee Williams might appear in a small cameo role come December – the lush casino city of Canto Bight certainly sounds like it would be right up Lando’s street – but sadly, that’s not the case.
Per Entertainment Weekly, The Last Jedi‘s writer-director Rian Johnson has gone on record to confirm that, no, Lando Calrissian won’t feature in next month’s Star Wars sequel whatsoever. Turns out the idea of welcoming Lando back to the fray “never really came up,” even when Star Wars: The Last Jedi was still kicking around the Lucasfilm boardroom.
No, and I don’t want fans to get their hopes up. He’s not in the film and it was never really something that came up. I mean, I loved that character. It would have been fun to see him, but it’s just not something that ever really had a place in the story.
That’s not to say that Billy Dee Williams is no longer attached to the galaxy far, far away; thanks to Star Wars: Rebels, the 80-year-old actor voices Calrissian in animated form, and even reprised that same role for Robot Chicken of all things, the stop-motion comedy dreamed up Seth Green and Matthew Senreich.
And as for a potential cameo in the future? Well, Billy Dee Williams’ manager, Brad Kramer, hinted that it’s not necessarily off the table:
Billy respects the studio and all involved in the decision but would be happy to be in any future Star Wars film if asked.
Come 2018, Atlanta star Donald Glover will be taking the great Lando Calrissian in his own direction for Solo: A Star Wars Story. It’ll open on May 25th, long after The Last Jedi has left its mark on the global box office.
