Because of their shady pasts as criminals and smugglers — hinted at in The Empire Strikes Back — there’s every reason to believe that the young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) and Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) in the as-yet-untitled Han Solo Star Wars spin-off might actually not be friends at all. Instead, they could be at each other’s throats.
Now that Lando’s involvement in the plot of the Han Solo movie has been 100% confirmed, let’s get real: He and Han probably won’t be palling around, and if they are, it will probably be a friendship of begrudging connivence. In The Empire Strikes Back, Han says he won the Millennium Falcon from Lando “fair and square” which obviously means he cheated. Also, when mentioning that he and Lando go “way back” Han also mutters to Chewbacca: “I’m sure he’s forgotten about that.” Whatever it is that Han hopes Lando has forgotten about is undoubtedly Han’s fault, which not only means this new film might focus on this big betrayal, whatever it is.
It’s possible that Lando is only really mad about Han getting possession of the Falcon, but it seems unlikely that’s the only thing Han did wrong. Lando insinuates Han is a “no good-swindler” in Empire and says, “You’ve got a lot of guts coming here, after what you pulled.” Um … it feels like Han and Lando parted on terms in which Han was more in the wrong. Whatever Han “pulled” pissed Lando of bad enough to make Han worried that his “friend” would ever forgive him.
Perhaps the Han Solo movie will present some other macguffin both Han and Lando are trying to obtain, with Han screwing Lando over Indiana Jones—style to get it. This is to say that the only reason Lando “forgives” Han in Empire is because he’s about to screw Han over, too.
Does all of this mean that the big bad of the Han Solo movie is in fact, Han Solo? We’ll find out when the movie is released on May 25, 2018.
