Is Billy Dee Williams Returning to Star Wars?
Billy Dee Williams is getting people excited. In a Twitter post earlier tonight, Williams teased “something truly magnificent” that will be revealed soon. He ended his message with “May the Force be with you all.” Billy Dee Williams, of course, played Lando Calrissian, an old smuggling friend of Han Solo’s, in two Star Wars films, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, as well as some Disney movie I never saw. The character was also played as a younger man by Donald Glover in another Disney movie I never saw. Glover will return to the role in Lando, a Disney+ series in development (as much as anything is during the writers’ and actors’ strikes). Billy Dee’s full statement is below:
— Billy Dee Williams (@realbdw) August 1, 2023
So, the assumption is that this is Star Wars-related, given Billy Dee’s sign-off at the end. And we know Lando is on the road to being a thing, especially with the news that star Donald Glover and his brother have replaced the series’ original writer, Justin Simien (whom Lucasfilm couldn’t even be bothered to formally fire because they’re trash now). The safe bet is that Billy Dee will return as Lando in some form on the show, perhaps in segments used as a framing device where he tells someone stories of his youth before the transition to Glover’s era. Or it could be another Star Wars project; maybe he’s voicing a video game or appearing at a convention. The actors’ strike is ongoing, so he can’t say much about a show or movie he’s working on, but he appears confident it will be announced soon; that suggests either it’s not Lando or he’s using “soon” as a relative term. Of course, it could be something totally unrelated to Star Wars, and he’s just saying “May the Force be with you all” as a nod to Lando’s fans. Is he teaming up with Sylvester Stallone for a long-awaited Nighthawks sequel? (Did Billy Dee survive Nighthawks? I need to watch Nighthawks again.) I guess we’ll know soon… or soonish.
