Not long ago, an interview with Lucasfilm President Kathy Kennedy caused a stir when she inferred that they won’t be re-casting characters after what they learned with Solo: A Star Wars Story.
When the comments initially came out it seemed like quite a shot at Solo, but when the full transcript of the interview was released there was a bit more context provided. She further clarified those comments recently with an interview with Total Film at Star Wars Celebration. When asked about those comments about not re-casting characters again, Kennedy responded,
“I never say never. It’s certainly not something that we’re doing with any intention right now. We’re still talking about Lando with Donald Glover, for instance, but I don’t think we would intentionally just look back at some of the characters like Luke and Leia and whatnot and decide arbitrarily to do a story. There would have to be a really strong reason why.”
She was asked a follow-up question about whether there’s a future for Solo, and she responded, “There’s always a future for Solo!”
It’s good to see these comments coming from Kennedy, and I’m glad that she’s clarifying that it’s not like they won’t ever do it but just want to be extremely cautious and thoughtful about when and why. I think that’s more than fair, and so perhaps all she was meaning with her previous comments about Solo was that she might not do it – or at least do it exactly the same – if she was doing it again. And I’m really glad that she said there’s always a future for Solo, but I’m not sure we should read too much into that. Of course she’s not going to say no, but at the same time she’s acknowledging that we might not have seen the end of those characters or stories.
That’s validated by the fact that she mentioned they are still talking with Donald Glover about Lando, which is awesome. Back at the Disney Investor Day in December 2020 Kennedy announced a Lando series, but no real information was given – and we’ve heard absolutely nothing about it since. I’m guessing that this is that same project, so it might be contingent upon Glover signing on and being able and willing to do it. This is the first time we’ve heard that Lucasfilm is in talks with Glover, but in April Glover certainly didn’t deny his involvement either. I’m really hoping it happens!
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