Lando Calrissian Actor Billy Dee Williams Teases Major Star Wars Announcement Coming Soon
The Empire Strikes Back alumnus teases a potential return to the land of Star Wars.
After floating along in development hell for the better part of three years, Lucasfilm's Lando series is back in development—and the actor originally behind the role may be teasing his involvement. Following up on an Instagram post he made earlier this month, Billie Dee Williams shared another similar tease on Monday. Though the actor was playing coy, he teased a "major" announcement involving himself would happen soon.
"I am thrilled to share that something truly magnificent is coming soon," Williams shared on Twitter. "This is a dream come true for me, on all that has sustained and carried me through a lifetime of dreams and adventure, it is my honor to share with you. Make sure to enable notifications for stories and posts to stay in the loop, you don't want to miss this… May the Force be with you all."
— Billy Dee Williams (@realbdw) August 1, 2023
Does this mean Billie Dee Williams is going to be in the new Lando series?
Though it's always possible Williams could be cameoing in the series, it's unlikely the actor will have a major on-screen role given the series will both star and be written by Donald Glover. Glover has been attached to return to the role ever since the series was first announced back in 2020 and only recently, it was revealed he'll also be writing the series after it was presumed dead on arrival.
"I would love to play Lando again. It's a fun time to be him. It just has to be the right, it just needs to be the right way to do it," Glover said in an interview with Deadline earlier this year. "Time is precious. I think everybody's in the past couple of years, this pandemic sh-t, had people experience time in a way where they're like...People kind of realize their time is valuable, you only get so much. So like, I'm not interested in doing anything that's just gonna be like a waste of my time or just a paycheck. I'd much rather like spend time with people that I l enjoy. So it just has to be the right thing, which I think it could be. I mean like Lando is definitely somebody I'd like to hang out with. I mean we're talking about it. That's as much as I can say, you know, without Kathleen Kennedy like, hunting me down."
He added, "He also feels pulpy. The rest of those the whole Skywalker family. You can't really f--k with the cannon. You can have a pulpy, kind of like, sh--ty, Lando novel that feels like outside of the Star Wars universe, but still in it. And I think that's why people like him. He's the most elastic of the characters because you don't know where he is from or who he is or whatever. There's only really those like three little books. So yeah, it was dope to play him. It was really fun."
That said, it's possible Williams could serve as the show's narrator or provide help in a similar way.
Lando has yet to set a release date. The latest series in the Star Wars saga, Ahsoka, is set for release on August 23rd.