Back in July, Donald and Stephen Glover took over writing duties from “Dear White People” creator Justin Simien on the long-gestating “Lando” series over at Disney+. But now there’s new intrigue on the “Lando” front, with Stephen hinting that the project he and Donald are working on may no longer be series. Instead, Variety reports that “Lando” is now a standalone movie, and will be part of the upcoming spate of “Star Wars” films that include James Mangold, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and Dave Filoni‘s movies.
Stephen dropped that juicy nugget on a recent appearance on the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast. After host Torre congratulated Stephen on he and Donald landing the project, Stephen began to play coy, then came out with it. “Oh boy, you shouldn’t have said that. I mean, I can pretty much be like, we’re doing a…it’s not even show,” Stephen said. “I’m sure the nerds will figure it out anyway, they’ll read my lips or something. The idea right now is to do a movie, you know? Like that’s the thing, like right now, because of the strike, it’s sort of like telephone with all the information coming out.”
Of course, given the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, “Lando” won’t hit anything beyond passive development any time soon. But shifting from a series to a standalone film may cause the eyes of “Star Wars” fans to bulge. It’s been over five years now since “Solo” hit theaters in 2018, introducing audiences to Donald Glover as a younger Calrissian. And “Solo” didn’t fare very well with critics or audiences, much like Disney‘s most recent legacy sequel, “Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny.” James Mangold was also candid earlier this year that his ideas for a Boba Fett movie fell through after the failure of “Solo” at the box office. So why pivot “Lando” from a streaming series to a movie, and why do it now?
That may have to do with Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm, and Disney+ having other pivots in the pipeline. With the announcement of three (now for with “Lando”) upcoming “Star Wars” movies, it’s clear that Kennedy and co. want to steer away from the streaming model for the time being. That’s due to Disney+ hitting a ceiling with subscribers and the industry-wide shift on refocusing streaming content to a “high quality, less quantity” business model that Disney CEO Bob Iger announced to Wall Street earlier this year. Long story short: the streaming model has hit its limit, and studios will shift away from it in the coming years if/when the guild strikes resolve themselves.
But back to the Glover brothers. They brothers have already had great success working together on the hit FX series “Atlanta.” They also worked together on the Amazon Prime Video film “Guava Island,” which Donald starred in with Rihanna. And since then, Donald penned “Swarm” for Prime Video and another series, “Mr. And Mrs. Smith” on the way for the streamer. That series now premieres in 2024, thanks to the ongoing strikes.
Which leads to another quandary in the “Lando” saga: when, if ever, will this film hit theaters? Thanks to the strikes, it’s almost certain that the release calendar that Kennedy announced at Star Wars Celebration in May will be revised. Obaid-Chinoy’s film about Daisy Ridley‘s Rey is rumored to kicked things off on May 2026, followed by Filoni’s MandoVerse film, as well as Mangold’s Jedi Order movie, Taika Waititi‘s potential “Star Wars” projects, and Shawn Levy‘s untitled project, too. Now the Glovers’ “Lando” is somewhere in that pipeline, but where?
There likely won’t be an answer to that question any time soon. But the Glover working on a “Lando” film sounds promising in and of itself. Plus, Donald loves playing the character, so he and Stephen will make sure they do justice to Calrissian. But given the industry’s current state, it feels like “Lando” won’t move beyond developmental stage for a long time.
