Lando Calrissian’s legendary smoothness has been a major cause of spontaneous swoonings around the world ever since he was first introduced inThe Empire Strikes Back. Now, it seems the epidemic of falling in love with the fictionalStar Warscharacter may get even worse because Lando just officially widened his scopes. Just in time forhis upcoming Disney Plus show.
The officialStar Warsblog recently announced some of its plans for Pride Month 2021, with a string of comic books to feature prominent LGBTQ+ characters on their covers drawn by, as the blog states, “gay and transgender artists.” The names mentioned included a few expected faces likearchaeologist Doctor Aphraand Imperial Officer Rae Sloane, the latter of whom wasn’t necessarily shown to be LGBTQ+ in the past, though there were hints. But one name that might have caught a few fans off guard was the silver-tongued smuggler himself, Lando Calrissian.
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For those who were unaware, Lando had been teased as pansexual over recent years, particularly following the release ofthe tragically underappreciatedSolo: A Star Wars Story, which featured an extraordinarily flirty version of the character whose charm didn’t seem to turn off no matter who he was around. Shortly after its release,Solowriter Jonathan Kasdan began telling fans that Lando was, indeed, pansexual. However, while it certainly answered a lot of questions people had about the suave caped gentleman, no official word on the matter was ever offered.
While it’s true that theStar Warsblog isn’t outright saying, “yes, Lando is pansexual,” they obviously know about Kasdan’s remarks, which have permeated the public’s views of the character. So it’s not like they can claim ignorance on the matter. Besides, if they wanted to debunk the idea, maybe including the smuggler on a series of covers dedicated explicitly to LGBTQ+ characters wasn’t the best move.
This push for more diversity in theStar Warsuniverse will very likely make the entire franchise that much more welcoming to lovers of the series both old and new, and now they don’t have to rely on their own efforts to make itmore inclusive likeHarry Potterfans. For the longest time, it’s been the type of series where even Black characters like Lando were few and far between, let alone anyone of the non-straight variety. Now, with the confirmation that even a central character from the old guard like Lando is part of a real-world marginalized community (another one, anyway), it sends the message that the brand, hopefully, isn’t just trying to add a few token LGBTQ+ characters here and there to hit a quota.
Of course, time will tell whether they plan to follow through with this big reveal.Star Warsstill has yet to feature an openly LGBTQ+ character in one of its mainline films (and no, a 2-second kiss between background characters doesn’t count as being “featured”), and it would generate some pushback from certain groups of fans who hate diversity for some reason. But it’s a start and a nice little win for representation. Hey, evenNintendo’s old friend Reggie agrees.
