Donald Glover has at last broken his silence regarding his being cast in the role of Star Wars favourite Lando Calrissian – and revealed that his mum, a huge Billy Dee Williams fan, told him "Don't mess it up!".
Glover will portray Calrissian in the upcoming young Han Solo flick, and appeared on US chat show Ellen to discuss the huge news. “I told my dad immediately,” said Glover, explaining that his dad gave him a Lando action figure as a child. “He was like, ‘Aww.’ My mom was in the back; she was like, ‘Don’t mess it up! Don’t mess this up!’ ‘Cause Billy Dee — like, that’s her thing.”
"It's crazy. I'm honoured, it's a very big deal," said Glover of what the part means to him. "There's a thing going round on the internet of me in a Star Wars T-shirt when I was in high school. So it's been a long [journey]."
Donald Glover wearing a Star Wars shirt in his high school yearbook pic.twitter.com/uPQrFkEainAugust 26, 2014
"We’re so lucky to have an artist as talented as Donald join us," said co-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller in a press release last week. "These are big shoes to fill, and an even bigger cape, and this one fits him perfectly, which will save us money on alterations. Also, we’d like to publicly apologize to Donald for ruining Comic-Con for him forever."
Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller and starring Alden Ehrenreich, the young Han Solo movie releases on May 25, 2018.
Image: The Martian
