First announced almost four years ago in December of 2020, Justin Simien was the initial name attached to the series which would star Donald Glover as a younger Lando Calrissian and his adventures after the events of Solo and before he is reunited with Han in The Empire Strikes Back. However, last year saw the end of that project as it was announced the Lando series would be a film led by Donald Glovers brother Stephen, despite the series apparenrtly being in an advanced state of preparation, with a series bible, concept artwork and scripts produced to varying degrees of readiness. Speaking with Collider Simien touched on the task of moving beyond his dream to produce a Star Wars series.
“It was pretty developed. Yeah, there was a Bible, there was concept art, there were scripts, but it just wasn’t meant to be. I get over it. I’m in therapy a lot.
For me, the answer is that you have to really face it. It is true grief. I’ve never had a child, I’ve never lost a child, but it’s what I imagine that pain might be like. You pour so much of your heart and soul into something, but ultimately, you don’t have control over whether it lives or dies, and it is a true grieving process.
For me, it has to be done pretty straight on like, ‘I am in grief. I do not feel good.’ I have to let myself feel those feelings. There’s so much that I experience that I get to keep forever and take into the next project. I can’t obviously take the storyline or the IP or the characters, but there’s so much more that I got, as a maker, and that’s mine. Sorry, it’s too late, you can’t take that part back.”
