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Star Wars Episode 9 Brings Back Billy Dee Williams As Lando

It will be Williams' first time playing Lando since 1983's Return of the Jedi.

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Here's some unexpected and cool news about the next Star Wars movie. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Billy Dee Williams will reprise his role as Lando Calrissian in next year's Star Wars: Episode IX.

Williams first played Lando in 1980's Empire Strikes Back and was seen again in 1983's Return of the Jedi. The character was more recently played by Donald Glover in this year's Solo: A Star Wars Story.

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The story for Episode IX is under wraps for now, so we don't know how Lando will fit into the narrative, but it's exciting to think about. Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, and Oscar Isaac are all expected to return for Episode IX. Recently, The Americans star Keri Russell joined the cast in an unspecified role.

The film will be directed by JJ Abrams, who joined the movie in September last year, following the departure of original director Colin Trevorrow. Although little is known about Episode IX at this stage, Abrams has already stated that he won't play it safe with his second Star Wars film. "I feel like we need to approach this with the same excitement that we had when we were kids loving what these movies were," he said. "But at the same time, we have to take them places that they haven't gone, and that's sort of our responsibility."

Episode IX hits theaters on December 20, 2019 and is currently the only other Star Wars movie on Disney's release schedule. However, we do know there are two separate Star Wars movies series in the works, one from The Last Jedi's Rian Johnson, the other from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.

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