Rian Johnson Confirms Lando Calrissian Will Not Appear In 'The Last Jedi'

By: Dominic Jones

Ever since the cast of Star Wars: The Force Awakens was announced and Billy Dee Williams was nowhere to be found, Star Wars fans have been wondering if we'll be seeing Lando Calrissian appear in the sequel trilogy.  When Lando didn't appear in The Force Awakens, fans speculated that he might make an appearance in The Last Jedi seeing as Lando didn't appear until the second installment in the original trilogy.  Unfortunately, this is not the case.

The Last Jedi writer/director Rian Johnson confirmed to Entertainment Weekly's Anthony Breznican that Lando will not be showing up in his film.  Johnson spoke with EW as as part of EW's online coverage of The Last Jedi, which coincides with a cover story about the film in this week's issue.

Johnson told EW,

"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."

While he won't be appearing in The Last Jedi, Lando will be making his return to the big screen next year in Solo: A Star Wars Story where he will be played by Donald Glover (Atlanta, Community).  Fans looking for more of Billy Dee Williams as Lando, the actor has returned to voice Lando twice in recent years.  Lando, voiced by Williams, made two appearances on the animated series Star Wars Rebels.  More recently, Williams can be heard as Lando in the video game Star Wars Battlefront II. 

Hopefully JJ Abrams can find a place for Lando in 2019's Episode IX.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi hits theaters on December 15th.  The film is written and directed by Rian Johnson and stars Daisy Ridley as Rey, Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, John Boyega as Finn, Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, Carrie Fisher as Leia Organa, Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico, Laura Dern as Amilyn Holdo, Benicio Del Toro as DJ, and Lupita Nyong'o as Maz Kanata.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

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