Star Wars 9: Lando Calrissian CONFIRMED – what will Billy Dee Williams do in new movie?

Star Wars: Episode 9 is due out in 2019, with production kicking off properly this summer.

Following weeks of rumours, Billy Dee Williams’ return as Lando Calrissian is finally official – so what will he do?

Absolutely nothing plot-related has been confirmed by Williams, LucasFilm or director JJ Abrams.

But with the Resistance in bad shape after the events on Crait, perhaps the team will need to call on him for help.

Indeed, Lando will be the only main human character from the original trilogy left, with Han Solo and Luke Skywalker both deceased, and Leia star Carrie Fisher sadly having passed away.

Episodes 7 and 8 have dealt with how the older generation of characters have had their failures and apprehensions about the future, so will Lando’s return play some kind of role in that same motif?

Williams has not played the part in person since Return of the Jedi in 1983 but he has provided the voice for Lando in animation.

His story has also continued to be told in novels – in 2016’s Bloodline, set six years before The Force Awakens, he sent a message of support to Leia following a political scandal arising from revelations about Darth Vader being her biological father.

While his future arc remains in mystery, fans can still see Donald Glover playing the younger Lando in Solo: A Star Wars Story.

It’s unclear if Glover will play the part again – given that there was big speculation around both a Lando prequel and a Solo sequel, before the Solo box office results came back rather lower than expected.

As for Williams, though, speculation on his comeback has been brewing for quite some time.