Star Wars: Lando Calrissian Officially Joins The LGBTQ+ Community

It has been a rather recurring theme in the entire Star wars franchise. For a galaxy full of aliens and technology beyond our wildest imaginations, the world of Star Wars has been devoid of LGBTQ+ characters. Lucasfilm has been accused of homophobia before. There were reports of the Studio execs personally coming down to the offices and squashing any attempts at inclusion for the community. The situation was supposed to change with Disney. After the Mouse House acquired Lucasfilm, fans theorized Disney would bring in their inclusion mantra to the game. That obviously did not happen in the long run. But change has finally come in the form of Lando Calrissian. Lando Calrissian, ladies and gentlemen, is now an LGBTQ+ Character.

The character made its first appearance in Star wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Marvel Comics and Star Wars, both Disney property. have made this announcement. Marvel is the official publisher of Star Wars graphic novels. They made the announcement to include Lando Calrissian as an LGBTQ+ Character for their upcoming pride variant covers.

Pride Variant Covers

The announcement was made in the Star Wars official website. The blog post the Star Wars website shared had all the pride variant covers for the upcoming issues. And one of them was Lando Calrissian. The variant covers are for the issues as follows:

1.Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters #1 will feature the famed archeologist Doctor Aphra

2. Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #13 would feature Yrica Quell, the leader of the Alphabet Squadron.

3. Star Wars: Darth Vader #13, will feature Rae Slone, Imperial Commander of the Empire on its variant cover.

4. Star Wars: High Republic 36 features Terec and Ceret, the Jedi Twins.

5. Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #11, has the infamous smuggler and bounty hunter – Sana Starros.

6. The last and final cover will be featuring Lando Calrissian for Star Wars #14.

Marvel’s official website also announced the pride variant covers for Star Wars within a short while after Star Wars. The artwork will be released across Pride Month. It will feature the official Star Wars pride logo. The series titles will be rendered in rainbow colors just like last time. According to Marvel, the covers are set to show “stunning depictions of popular LGBTQ+ characters from throughout the Star Wars galaxy”.

Lando’s Sexual Fluidity Was Under Question For Far Too Long

The questions about Lando Calrissian’s sexual orientations have been around as long as Star Wars itself. The character has been played by Billy Dee Williams in the original trilogies (& in The Rise of Skywalker) and Donald Glover in Solo: A Star Wars Story. Theories about Lando being pan-sexual have been rife. Ever since Jonathan Kasdan, co-writer of Solo: A Star Wars Story, has confirmed in an interview this theory, the LGBTQ+ community has been hyped up. Lando Calrissian’s sexual fluidity expands to not just men and women but also droids.

But some fans claim that the announcement came too little too late. The character’s sexual orientation could have been made public before Solo: A Star Wars Story. That would have been even more empowering since Star Wars would have featured an openly pansexual character on the big screens. The move by Star Wars is just like Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo from Star Wars: The Last Jedi. She was revealed to be queer in the tie-in novel Leia: Princess of Alderaan. That element about Holdoi was never explicitly stated in the movie.