After playing Lando Calrissian in Ron Howard‘s 2018 movie Solo: A Star Wars Story, Donald Glover is ready to dust off his purple cloak, as Above the Line has exclusively learned that Donald and his brother Stephen Glover are now writing the Lando series that Lucasfilm has been developing for Disney+.
The Glover brothers replace Haunted Mansion director Justin Simien on the project, which was first announced by Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy back in December 2020 as part of Disney Investor Day. At the time, there was no word regarding whether Donald Glover or Billy Dee Williams would be returning as Lando, though current plans obviously call for Donald’s return, as it’s unlikely that he’d write the script for another actor to play the smooth-talking smuggler.
On Thursday, the Hollywood Reporter shared Simien’s response to the question of whether he was still attached to Lando: “I am attached, I think, but I don’t really know. (Laughs.) The last thing I was told was that they loved it but needed to put a pin in it until they could figure out everybody’s availability. I haven’t investigated further, but I’m not an idiot.”
“It seems like I develop things with these companies and they just never happen for reasons unknown,” Simien added.
Above the Line has since learned that Simien has actually been off the Lando series since last summer when he bowed out to continue focusing on his directing duties for Haunted Mansion. With Lucasfilm eager to move forward with the project, execs reached out to Donald Glover, who often writes with his brother, Stephen. The siblings agreed to board the project together, and their take is said to have Lucasfilm brass excited.
It’s worth noting that the Glovers’ involvement has been top-secret for months, as they signed on well before the WGA strike and haven’t performed any work on the project since writers took to the picket lines on May 2. Simien was likely simply toeing the company line with his affirmative response to THR, not wanting to make waves on the eve of his new film’s premiere in theaters.
While Solo grossed just $392 million worldwide, it was hardly the flop that the media made it out to be, and though the studio wasn’t necessarily keen on a sequel, it has long been excited by the prospect of a spinoff series centered around Lando.
When he was interviewed by GQ in April, Glover said of a possible return as Lando, “We’re talking about it. That’s as much as I can say without Kathleen Kennedy hunting me down.” “I would love to play Lando again,” he added. “It’s a fun time, being him. It just has to be the right way to do it.”
I just so happened to attend NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with Donald, so I’ve known him since he was 18 years old, and it’s been incredible to watch his rise in Hollywood, though Stephen is no slouch himself. In addition to earning two Emmy nominations as a writer on Donald’s FX series Atlanta, Stephen received an additional Emmy nod in 2018 as a writer on Saturday Night Live, and he also wrote the recent House Party reboot with Jamal Olori.
The Glover brothers also collaborated on Prime Video’s acclaimed series Swarm, which has thrust Dominique Fishback into this year’s Emmy race, while Stephen wrote the screenplay for Amazon’s 55-minute movie Guava Island, which paired Donald with Rihanna. Both Glovers are represented by WME.
