In 1975, Parliament's "Mothership Connection (Star Child)" advised us to "free your mind and come fly with me. It's hip on the mothership." The final countdown to fly with Han Solo and Lando Calrissian is now in progress with the impending May 25 release of Solo: A Star Wars Story. On May 2, Donald Glover took us on a tour of the mothership, the Millennium Falcon, no doubt whetting the appetite of Star Wars fans who are waiting impatiently for the Ron Howard-directed film.
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Last September, Glover took home his first career Emmy wins for his work on "Atlanta." More recently, 60th GRAMMY viewers were enthralled on Jan. 28 when Glover took the stage in his Childish Gambino persona to sing "Terrified." He won Best Traditional R&B Performance for "Redbone" at the 60th GRAMMY Awards and, during an interview after the show, addressed his plans to retire Gambino.
Now, in a galaxy far, far away, Glover will take on the identity of Lando Calrissian, perhaps the slickest space gangster in one of the most popular movie franchises of all time. Solo … comes into the series' timeline while Lando still owns the ship — before he loses it to Han Solo in a bet — and it's got a cape room!
As Glover points out in the tour video, Lando knows how to take care of his ride — we get to see it new before Solo and Chewie roughed it up as a result of all those Imperial entanglements. Of course, the natural follow-up question is how much of what Glover shows us comes standard on all Corellian YT-1300f light freighters versus what are Lando's customized modifications? It's clear we can't run out and buy one soon, but the conversation has moved forward since Parliament's 1975 single invited us to fly in space.
In addition to his big debut as Lando Calrissian on the big screen, Glover recently added new Childish Gambino dates to his upcoming tour and he's preparing to host "Saturday Night Live" on May 5.