Billy Dee Williams Says “Pay Me A Lot Of Money” To Return To ‘Star Wars’ As Lando & Shares Thoughts On Donald Glover Taking On Character

Armando Tinoco
·2-min read

Billy Dee Williams originated the Lando Calrissian character in the Star Wars universe and would not mind reprising the role in future projects if they make a good monetary offer.

In a recent interview, the actor who first played Lando in the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back is opening up about what it would take for him to return to a galaxy far, far away.

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“Pay me a lot of money, and I’ll sell my soul,” Williams told Radio Times magazine about portraying Lando again.

Williams reprised the Lando role in 1983’s Return of the Jedi and most recently in 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. A younger version of the character appeared in the prequel Solo: A Star Wars Story, with Donald Glover taking on the role.

“He’s part of a whole new generation. He’ll create whatever he needs to create, to bring appeal to the character. He’s a very talented young lad and very imaginative,” Williams said of Glover taking over the Lando role. “I mean, it’s not for me to say what he should do with the character at this stage. “I took care of the 20th century, now he’s got to take care of the 21st.”

Glover and Lucasfilm had been developing a series for Disney+ centered on Lando but recently pivoted to a feature film.

Williams said he has met Glover and shared the advice he gave the actor about taking on the role.

“I had a nice little lunch with him. He’s a delightful young man. Extremely talented. But I don’t see him… I mean, when it comes to Lando Calrissian there’s only one Lando Calrissian. I created that character,” he said. “I told him to be charming – two words! That’s all I needed to tell him. That’s all I could think of.”

Last year, Glover shared details of his encounter with Williams recalling that he gave him the “secret” on how to play Lando by telling him to “just be charming.”

“He’s right, Lando is charm incarnate,” Glover said in an interview with GQ. “He’s kind of a maverick, which I don’t think there’s a lot of anymore. It’s hard to be a smooth talker nowadays ’cause, where’s the line? But I think that’s also where the danger is. It’s like, how close can you get without tripping over it?”

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