There’s a reason everybody loves Lando, you know.
Solo: A Star Wars Story is chock full of all kinds of interesting new background information about some of Star Wars’ most iconic characters, and one of the most significant revelations to come out of the film is as subtextual as it is important. In a recent interview with the Huffington Post, Solo screenwriter Jonathan Kasdan confirmed what a significant part of the Star Wars fandom has suspected about Lando Calrissian for quite some time now. Lando’s a ladies’ man, yes, but he’s by no means straight. When asked specifically if Lando was pansexual, Kasdan replied, “I would say yes.”
Historically, the Star Wars franchise has been doing very poorly when it comes to LGBTQ+ representation, which is weird when you consider the expansive nature of the universe. So when asked about Lando’s sexuality, it was nice to see Kasdan reply thoughtfully. He said that while the smuggler wouldn’t put a specific label on himself, he’d be even less likely to buy into the traditional ideas about sexual preference:
“There’s a fluidity to Donald and Billy Dee’s [portrayal of Lando’s] sexuality. I mean, I would have loved to have gotten a more explicitly LGBT character into this movie. I think it’s time, certainly, for that, and I love the fluidity ― sort of the spectrum of sexuality that Donald appeals to and that droids are a part of.”
It’s important to note that while the screenwriter sees the character that way, there are no on-screen scenes that explicitly address whether Lando’s been in relationships with people who aren’t female-presenting humanoids (he does that a lot). But there is a moment that acknowledges he might be attracted to droids.
The gender of droids is a complicated topic to dive into because Star Wars has never really nailed down specifically how its characters conceive of a droid’s gender, or if they do at all. But the concept of a human potentially wanting to be with one is a fascinating, if small, expansion of the ways the franchise has depicted sexual intimacy.