Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has already become infamous for the amount of important facts that it didn’t bother to explain, with various tie-in books having to fill in backstories and clarify plot developments that were mystifying in the film itself. For instance, what’s the connection between Lando Calrissian and Jannah? If you’ll recall, the Rebellion hero and the ex-Stormtrooper share a scene at the movie’s end which suggests they will go off on adventures together in the Falcon.
TROS‘ Visual Dictionary heavily implied that Jannah was Lando’s daughter, who was revealed to have been kidnapped by the First Order as a child. Fans have been operating under this belief ever since, then. However, it’s worth inspecting the following passage from Rise of Skywalker‘s novelization, by author Rae Carson, which may conflict with what the Visual Dictionary had to say about their relationship.
“Lando and the Lady Luck would help these special kids. Find their families, if that’s what they wanted. Help them discover their new place in the galaxy. Heck, maybe he’d find his daughter. Probably not; he knew the odds. But that would be a pretty good way to spend his twilight years, right? If the kids were amenable, anyway.”
Going by this passage, Lando is under the impression that he has still yet to find his missing child, which might tell us that Jannah isn’t his daughter, after all. Though, of course, it’s possible this window into his thoughts is hinting that he’s about to discover his daughter is right under his nose. After all, it’s entirely possible that Lando wouldn’t recognize her as an adult. Alternatively, maybe they really aren’t related and this extract can be taken at face value.
Whatever your interpretation of it, it’s clear that Lucasfilm has decided to leave the nature of Lando and Jannah’s connection ambiguous for now. That’s pretty unusual, as it’s been outright confirmed since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker that Palpatine is a clone (as is Rey’s dad), for instance. So, why are they keeping this vague? Is it because a Jannah/Lando Disney Plus show is on the way? Fingers crossed.
