Find out more about Solo: A Star War Story’s Lando Calrissian and L3-37

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Are you already sick of hearing news about SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY? Well, too bad, because with STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI now out of the way, Lucasfilm will likely be banging the SOLO drum from now until its release in just four months. Although the trailer didn't completely knock my socks off, it did look better than I expected it to, so I'm allowing myself to remain cautiously optimistic about the project. As you've no doubt been aware, Entertainment Weekly has been running quite a few SOLO stories this week, and today is no different as EW got to chance to speak with Donald Glover and writers Jon and Lawrence Kasdan about both Lando Calrissian and his trusty droid, L3-37.

Donald Glover on meeting with Billy Dee Williams, the original Lando:

It was really, really relaxed. He was great. I mean, I had a lot of questions. And then he just told me, just be charming. [Laughs] And so, I was like, “Okay!” I just kind of did that. He said, “Just be interested in things.” Lando has, I wouldn’t say eccentric, but eclectic tastes. So I tried to work that into the role as much as possible. I just wanted to know, Star Wars was such a big deal and then they make the second one and you’re kind of the first and the almost only black guy in the universe at that point. I was like, How did you go into that? What were your thoughts? It’s always a big thing when you break a mold. What was the thought process of that? He gave some good advice about this, about being yourself as much as possible, making the character a real person, rather than the whole identity for a whole group of people.

On how different the Millennium Falcon is under his ownership:

He’s a very particular person with particular tastes and he likes the comforts of life. I would live in it right now, to be honest! [Laughs] In between takes, they’d be like, “Okay, we are going to set up for the next shot , so you can go sit in your chair or whatever,” and I’d be like, “Actually I’ll just stay in Lando’s room.” It was that nice! I would just lay in his bed and read a book or write something because it is very comfortable. I think he likes to be comfortable. He’s not a cowboy kind of guy.

Donald Glover also elaborated on the differences between his character and Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich), saying that while Solo may be more of a rule-breaker, Lando is more fond of loopholes and using the rules to his advantage. "He likes to know his way in and out of any situation that he’s in. Lando likes rules because he’s somebody who is in a position to benefit from rules," Glover said."He’s smart enough to figure out a way to like get out of things, like loopholes, And I think Han is more of a rule breaker and he can kind of get away with it." Although Lando clearly has the same charm as always, he's not quite the same character we first met in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, with Glover saying that "he’s probably a little more over the top because he’s not old enough to be like, you don’t have to push so hard by the time you own the city. By then he’s like, I don’t need to prove anything to anybody, you know?"

Glover also commented on the relationship between Lando and L3-37, saying that they're both kind of "self-made," and in the case of L3-37, that's quite literal. SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY co-writer Jon Kasdan said that L3-37 is a "self-modified droid" who has slowly been constructing herself over the years. "The idea is that she’s sort of a mutt, if you will, of various parts of different kinds of droids who has improved upon herself," Kasdan said, adding that "She’s a complete individual in the galaxy. We wanted to have it be a completely different kind of droid than you’ve ever seen in the movies. And we definitely wanted it to be a female. We thought it was more than time for that."

Lawrence Kasdan on L3-37's relationship with Lando Calrissian:

She has a working relationship with Lando, and it’s very sophisticated and informed by years of working together. And, Phoebe, herself, is hilarious. The effect that she will appear in is amazing, but she comes through very strongly even with this astounding [CGI], both her humor and her physicality. If you meet Phoebe, she’s one of these people you just fall in love with immediately.

Although her character will be used for comic relief, the source of that comedy won't come from being "a stick in the mud" like C-3PO or K-2SO. "Her AI is way up there in terms of IQ," said SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY director Ron Howard. "She’s capable of some pretty interesting conversations. And Phoebe is hilarious and brilliant and really helped bring that character to life in ways that are funny and surprising." Jon Kasdan added that L3-37 is "subservient to no one, which is a fun kind of droid to write."

SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY will hit theaters on May 25, 2018.