STAR WARS: Billy Dee Williams Confirms RISE OF SKYWALKER Once Gave Lando Calrissian A Daughter

STAR WARS: Billy Dee Williams Confirms RISE OF SKYWALKER Once Gave Lando Calrissian A Daughter

We've known for years that Lando Calrissian's role in The Rise of Skywalker underwent major changes, and Billy Dee Williams has confirmed his character was meant to reunite with a long-lost daughter...

By JoshWilding - Jan 26, 2024 03:01 AM EST
Filed Under: Star Wars

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker teased the possibility that Lando Calrissian might have a daughter and various tie-in material would later confirm she was taken by the First Order as a child. Like the kids of many Rebels, Kadara was brainwashed by the Empire's successors and likely became a Stormtrooper. 

A popular fan theory is that Jannah, the ex-Stormtrooper whom Lando forms a bond with, might be his long-lost daughter. Lucasfilm has never committed to that and it's widely believed confirmation of their familial relationship was left on the cutting room floor.

During a recent appearance on the Dagobah Dispatch podcast, legendary actor Billy Dee Williams revealed that the idea heading into Episode IX was indeed that Lando should have a child. 

"They were trying to decide whether I should have a daughter," he explains. "I don't know if they decided to follow up on that idea, I haven't heard any feedback or anything on where - or what direction they want to take with that."

It appears this fell by the wayside and, short of the plot point being picked up on in a future book or comic, that's probably all we'll ever get to know about the idea! Given how rushed and chaotic The Rise of Skywalker was, it's sadly one of many ideas which were never properly fleshed out. 

In the same conversation, Williams revealed that the way Lando betrayed Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back has haunted him ever since it happened in 1980. 

"When I went to pick my daughter up from school, the kids would run up to me and say, 'You betrayed Han Solo!' I'd go on an airplane and the airplane stewardess would say, 'You betrayed Han Solo!'"

"I got that for a lotta years, so finally I said, 'Look, think about the whole situation. You're up against a pretty formidable character, Darth Vader, and then there's Boba Fett, and these people were invading my space, and I had to bargain with them. To bargain to prevent at least the complete demise of Han Solo and his friends. But I had to hold on to my whole situation.'"

"So I found myself explaining...to a point where I finally said to people, 'Look, did anybody die? Nobody died!' I think that was a clear implication that I was trying to figure something out, or Lando was trying to figure something out...primarily to hold on to his own situation, without the complete demise of his friends."

Despite that betrayal, Lando remains one of the Star Wars franchise's most popular and Williams has earned icon status among fans. Donald Glover later played a younger version of the hero in Solo: A Star Wars Story and is expected to reprise the role in a future movie (it was originally a Disney+ TV series).

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