Remember when Star Wars was fun? So does Donald Glover, and he's hoping his Lando film will bring some of that back to the far, far away galaxy
"As a Star Wars fan myself, I think it’s important that there’s more fun being had."
Donald Glover, the actor behind young Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Star Wars Story, is hoping he can put some "fun" back into the sci-fi series.
With the way that people talk about Star Wars, it's easy to forget that the original is just kind of this silly trio of films with big explosions, nonsensical plot twists, and tiny green puppet men giving surprisingly sage advice. There's plenty of room in its universe for some serious moments too, but it seems like a baseline feeling of fun is more reserved for the games these days, with shows like The Mandalorian and The Acolyte leaning more towards the dramatic most of the time. And it seems like actor Donal Glover, also known for his music under his Childish Gambino pseudonym, is hoping his upcoming Lando film will be able to make Star Wars feel fun again.
"I just want it to be fun," Glover told the Wall Street Journal in a recent video interview. "As a Star Wars fan myself, I think it’s important that there’s just - there just needs to be more fun being had." He went on to say that it's "very hard to have fun right now. It’s tough because there are very serious things happening. Those are the only things that connect us, weirdly, so I get why things are serious but part of the human experience, I believe, is we have a responsibility to have an enjoyment, and I just feel like we’re lacking in that department.
"Star Wars, I love it, but sometimes it be super serious, sometimes it be like way too serious and everything that has to do with the Skywalkers is so serious," Glover continued while laughing. The actor first appeared as the classic Star Wars character in the 2018 prequel Solo: A Star Wars Story. While Lando was originally slated to be a Disney Plus series, with Dear White People and Haunted Mansion director Justin Simien serving as showrunner.
Disney later decided to scrap the idea of releasing Lando as a series, instead opting to make a film, with Glover and his brother Stephen now penning the screenplay. The film does not currently have a release date.