Lando Strikes Back! Donald Glover Teams with His Brother to Pen Latest ‘Star Wars’ Spinoff Series

Donald Glover is returning to his Star Wars roots — and he’s bringing his brother, Stephen Glover, along for the trek!

PEOPLE can confirm that after two-and-a-half years of workshopping and waiting, it was Donald and Stephen — the former of which is responsible for hit shows like Atlanta and Swarm— will serve as lead writers on the upcoming Disney+ Lando series.

As first reported by Above The Line, Donald, 39 and Stephen, 35 are stepping in after Justin Simien exited the project. Simien, who created Netflix’s Dear White People and directed Disney’s newly-released Haunted Mansion reboot, was initially confirmed to lead the project in 2020. 

The brotherly duo’s deal was reached before the ongoing WGA strike, Variety reported. 

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Donald Glover.

J Olley/Lucasfilm/Disney/Kobal/Shutterstock 

Donald is no stranger to the role of Lando. While the suave smuggler was originally played by Billy Dee Williams, the Community actor took over the role in 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story. 

“He’s like, ‘Just be charming,’” Glover told PEOPLE of meeting Williams. “I took what he said … and amped it up.”

Meanwhile, Stephen has also been working as a screenwriter, collaborating with his brother for several episodes of Hulu’s Atlanta. His many other projects include Guava Island, House Party and even writing for his brother’s episode of Saturday Night Live. 

Just days before the announcement, formerly tapped writer Simien opened up to The Direct about his progress on the show, which had infamously been stalled. 

“I certainly poured my heart and spent a lot of time working with them to put together a really great show,” Simien said. “It feels like everybody loves it. And, you know, I was told we had to put a pause on it because of scheduling, and the next update I got [was in 2020], some years ago. So I don’t know, I have no idea what’s going on with it.”

Stephen and Donald Glover.

John Sciulli/Getty

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While Donald may now be considered a television magnate, even running his own production company called Gilga, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the multihyphenate talent. In a recent interview with GQ, he opened up about the early days of his career, explaining the pain he went through when first writing on 30 Rock.

“It definitely didn’t feel like I was supposed to be there,” Donald said. “I used to have stress dreams every night where I was doing cartwheels on the top of a New York skyscraper with the other writers watching me.”

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Lando has yet to be assigned a release date.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education