Billy Dee Williams is finally reprising his role of Lando Calrissian in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but he isn't the only one to have portrayed the character. Donald Glover took on the role in 2018's Solo: A Star Wars Story, a prequel set 10 years before A New Hope, and while Williams admitted he is a huge fan of Glover, he does have a few criticisms regarding his take on Lando.
"To me, I'm Lando. I love that Donald Glover. He's a brilliant young man. But his hair was not how I thought of Lando," he explained in an interview with Rolling Stone. "He was more Afrocentric with his hair. I have nothing against that. But when I created Lando, he was beyond all of that." While the film was met with a mostly positive critical response, with Glover's performance noted as a highlight, Solo was ultimately considered a flop at the box office.
Williams has more issues with the movie, and one of them is Lando's relationship with Phoebe Waller-Bridge's droid character L3-37. "I think that’s the reason they didn’t have the success they could have had," he added. "Because they were going for something that was topical, instead of an adventure that’s far beyond those questions. If you’re talking about this huge, incredible story, why lock yourself into this tiny moment between a character like Lando and his robot friend?"
Their chemistry was honestly a Solo highlight, as evidenced below:
Prior to the release of Solo, it was revealed that Lando is pansexual. In another recent interview, Williams described himself using both male and female pronouns, but he backtracked on calling himself gender fluid or non-binary when many assumed he had come out in the interview. "Well, first of all, I asked last night. I said, 'What the hell is gender fluid?’ That’s a whole new term," Williams told Esquire. "But what I was talking about was about men getting in touch with their softer side of themselves."
The 82-year-old actor hasn't portrayed Lando since 1983's Return of the Jedi, telling Variety he never thought he was going to play the character again. "I knew people were clamoring for Lando to come back, but I didn’t feel like that would happen," he said. It’s a nice feeling to be welcomed back."
