Why Billy Dee Williams Was 'Concerned' Before Reprising His Role as Lando for 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker'

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker finally comes out this month, wrapping up over 40 years of storytelling that has captured the hearts of generations. With this kind of emotional end in sight, actors who have been with the franchise since the beginning are taking time to reminisce on their character's arc, and how they are finishing out the roles of a lifetime.

One such actor is Billy Dee Williams, who played Lando Calrissian in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983). Though the veteran actor will be completing the saga in the upcoming film, ComicBook.com reports that the 82-year-old star had his reservations about returning.

In speaking with Esquire, Williams said, "Do I have that same hunger, excitement, that I had years earlier? This is a very difficult time for me, as far as age is concerned. When you get to be a certain age, whether you want to think about mortality or not, you think about it."

He also admitted that he wanted to look good for the role of the smooth-talking gambler, saying:

“When I have to go to work, my ego tells me I want to look pretty good. I don’t want to look bad. I don’t want to look like a slob… I always imagined Lando being like Steve Wynn, running Las Vegas, because he’s a gambler. But he was a bit of a showman, a bit of an entrepreneur. That’s how I see Lando. I never necessarily saw him as a general running around shooting things.”

Williams stated that he isn’t sure the role of Lando will end with him, joking that, “The one thing about show business [is], you can resurrect anything.” Considering Golden Globe winner Donald Glover played a younger version of Lando in Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), we believe it.

Check out Williams in The Rise of Skywalker, out in theaters Dec. 20.