See Billy Dee Williams As Lando Calrissian In 'Star Wars Rebels' [UPDATED]
Hello, what have we here? Yes, everyone's favorite Death Star destroyer and former owner of the Millennium Falcon, Lando Calrissian, will return to the Star Wars universe next week. Billy Dee Williams will voice Lando Calrissian on the January 19 episode of Star Wars Rebels called Idiot's Array. Below, see photos and read more about how the Billy Dee Williams Star Wars Rebels cameo.
UPDATE: See a video of Williams voicing the character and several scenes from the episode.
Official Star Wars.com contributor Tim Veekhoven posted this image on Twitter. Lucasfilm has not yet responded to our inquiries.
#starwarsrebels Calrissian looks great :) pic.twitter.com/MtwZLbJYZ3
— Sompeetalay (@Sompeetalay) January 12, 2015
Here's a bigger image.
And here's another image, from a fan who downloaded the episode to watch a week ahead of time. Thanks to Superhero Hype for the heads up.
And a third:
@slashfilm Here's a screenshot I took...enjoy! #starwars #lando #rebels #starwarsrebels #disney pic.twitter.com/pkJ6KjPJ7u
— Dan the Pixar Fan (@danthepixarfan) January 12, 2015
So how does Lando fit in? Well, it seems like in the episode he's gambling with Zeb and wins the show's droid, Chopper. That sets off a chain of events in which the crew of the Ghost has to get their droid back. (You can read more spoilery specifics on MakingStarWars)
A few years back, Williams mentioned in passing that he would be lending his voice to Rebels. At that time, it was unclear if he was being honest, but obviously he was. He also reprised his character in voice form earlier last year in The Lego Movie.
Lando will be the fourth major cameo on the show from characters in the original trilogy. (Fifth if you count Darth Vader, who was added after his episode originally aired.) R2-D2 and C-3P0 appeared early on, Yoda's disembodied voice was on the most recent episode, and now here's the suave smuggler. So far, these cameos have felt a tiny bit forced, simply because of what we know about the Galaxy in between Episodes III and IV. Plus, the Ghost crew is supposed to be on the outside of anything happening in the Skywalker storyline. Then again, these characters in particular don't tie directly to that storyline at all. Especially not at this time. And they're great reminders to fans that Rebels is canon. This happened in the story and it all will eventually become the stories we know.
The Lando episode of Rebels airs January 19 on Disney XD. Are you looking forward to it?
UPDATE: Entertainment Weekly officially confirmed this information, with a new image and video. It's not embeddable yet, but click the below image to check it out.