While Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker may end up a more divisive entry in the franchise than The Last Jedi, two elements that have been widely praised are Billy Dee Williams’ return as Lando Calrissian and his relationship with Naomi Ackie’s Jannah. In the final moments of the film, we see Lando explaining that together they’re going to figure out who she is and now, thanks to Jennifer Heddle, Executive Editor for Disney Publishing’s Star Wars books, we know that Jannah is indeed Lando’s daughter.
In a conversation on Twitter, artist Brandon Bird pointed out that the movie had left in the resolution but not the set-up, meaning that Lando looks like “a weirdo perv.” Heddle chips in though to say that the novelization will indeed cover Jannah being Lando’s daughter and that it’s considered official canon.
It will still be in the novelization!
— Jennifer Heddle (@jenheddle) December 20, 2019
It's considered canon, yes.
— Jennifer Heddle (@jenheddle) December 22, 2019
This confusion is emblematic of the problems with The Rise of Skywalker. J.J. Abrams is known for his breakneck pacing and it’s arguable that the film moves far too fast between plot points for its own good. Many reviews have complained that the first half is basically a series of nonsensical fetch quests, with the latter half a parade of fan service that doesn’t make a great deal of sense. And plotlines like Lando and Jannah’s being left half in the movie and half on the cutting room floor doesn’t exactly indicate a particularly well assembled or thought-out film.
Despite all this, we may yet have another chance to see Lando and Jannah as a father and daughter team. Our sources, the same ones who told us that [SPOILERS] dies in Rise of Skywalker and that Rey’s connection to Palpatine is due to [SPOILERS], have indicated that Disney and Lucasfilm are exploring the prospect of a Disney Plus Lando TV show following up on the end of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. I sincerely hope this idea bears fruit, as whatever your opinion of the rest of the movie was, at least Billy Dee Williams can still bring it as Lando.
