Star Wars actor Billy Dee Williams Says Disney made a bad decision in promoting Lando Calrissian in 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story as a pansexual character in a romantic relationship with a droid.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, the 82-year-old actor said that the decision to cast Lando as having a lust for a droid may have hurt the success of Solo: A Star Wars Story, where a young Lando is portrayed by actor Donald Glover.
“I think that’s the reason they didn’t have the success they could have had,” Williams said of Lando’s sexuality. “Because they were going for something that was topical, instead of an adventure that’s far beyond those questions. If you’re talking about this huge, incredible story, why lock yourself into this tiny moment between a character like Lando and his robot friend?”
Lando’s pansexuality, meaning someone’s sexual attraction to others regardless of their sex or gender identity, was confirmed last year by Solo screenwriter Jonathan Kasdan, who declared that there was a clear “fluidity to Donald [Glover] 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,” Kasdan said at the time. “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.”
William’s comments come after he recently suggested that he’s gender fluid, saying in an interview with Esquire that he refers to himself with both gender pronouns because he has qualities of both sexes.
“You see, I say ‘himself’ and ‘herself,’ because I also see myself as feminine as well as masculine,” the veteran actor told the magazine. “I’m a very soft person. I’m not afraid to show that side of myself.”
“I never tried to be anything except myself,” he continued. “I think of myself as a relatively colorful character who doesn’t take himself or herself too seriously.”
Williams, who rose to fame after appearing in Star Wars originals The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi will reprise his role as Lando the forthcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Follow Ben Kew on Facebook, Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart.com.
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