Lando Doesn't Have a Blaster in Those Solo Trailers (But Does in the Poster)

This article has been updated.

He’s a gambler, card player, and we like him. But, though we get to see Lando flying the Falcon in the new Solo trailers, he doesn’t appear to draw a blaster pistol. But why?

On Monday, the first length trailer for Solo: A Star Wars Story debuted on Good Morning America. And combined with the Super Bowl teaser, fans may have noticed something odd about Lando Calrissian. Despite being a rogue smuggler, he’s not wielding a blaster in any of the footage. And, there’s a good, deep-cut reason for that. Lando’s current canonical backstory means the only people who see him fire a blaster won’t live to tell the tale.

See, the deal is Lando is a con-man, and his longest con is creating a reputation where everyone thinks he never carries a blaster and doesn’t believe in them. Written by Charles Soule, the canonical Marvel comic miniseries Lando, the reader is conned by this, too. The entire time you’re reading the story, you believe that Lando hates blasters and never carries one, until the very end. At that point, Lando reveals he’s basically a gunslinger and never misses. The only people that know Lando is a good shot are his partner Lobot and the people he blasts. This fact is corroborated in the short story “The Angle” (also written by Soule) from the 2017 anthology A Certain Point of View, in which Lando thinks about the fact that he carries a concealed blaster, but doesn’t plan on using it in public, ever.

So, how will Solo handle this? One scene in the trailer shows someone who could be Lando shooting a blaster, but their face is totally obscured. This could be Lando’s secret at work. Whoever these people are he’s taking out, can’t see who did it.

Obviously, by the time of The Empire Strikes Back, Lando is cool with people knowing he can fire a blaster, but what about over a decade before? Will Han Solo go through the whole movie believing Lando can’t shoot? Or will he let the smuggler in on his secret?

Solo: A Star Wars Story is out everywhere on May 25, 2018. It is the first Star Wars movie to come out in May since Revenge of the Sith in 2005. Prior to The Force Awakens beginning the December trend in 2015, the six previous Star Wars films, prior to the Disney take over, were all released in May.

Update: Looks like Lando is rocking a blaster in one of the official character posters for Solo. So, that means, someone will see him with a blaster at some point in the movie. Then again, maybe this art is just for the audience.