Renowned for his portrayal of Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars universe, Billy Dee Williams has faced immense hatred and backlash from the fans of the sci-fi franchise. Though the actor is charismatic and has his own way of charming the audience with his entertaining performance, and effortlessly impersonating from comedy to drama, he could not escape the fandom’s fury.
The actor acknowledged the fact that his portrayal of the character had been met with criticism from the fans. However, Billy Dee Williams did not realize that the despise of the fandom for his role in Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back would be so strong and concentrated. The actor talked about how his public altered after the 1980 film, as he shares instances from his memoir.
Billy Dee Williams Was Taken Aback by The Hatred of Star Wars Fans
Billy Dee Williams who portrayed the role of Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars franchise was met with backlash from the fans as his character, who pretended to be an ally of Harrison Ford’s Han Solo. As fans remember at the end of Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back, Calrissian betrayed The Rebel Alliance and handed over Han Solo to Darth Vader in Cloud City.
The betrayal from Billy Dee Williams’ character was too much from Star Wars fans as it served in a pivotal moment of the story. In his memoir titled, What Have We Here?, the Undercover Brother actor recalled that he was not too serious while portraying the role of Lando Calrissian. But it all changed after his betrayal of Han Solo. In an excerpt from his memoir he mentions,
“Nearly everywhere I went, fans harangued me for betraying Han Solo. I got dirty looks on airplanes. “How could you?” A flight attendant scolded. At the grocery store, a man shopping with his teenage son looked at me with disgust. “I should put you in the deep freeze,” he said, as his son nodded in agreement. The harshest reaction came on the playground at my daughter’s school. In the afternoon, as I waited in the courtyard to pick her [up], parents scowled at me. Then, after the bell rang, I got the same treatment from [my daughter] Hanako’s friends. “Mr. Williams, you sold out Han Solo. Why’d you do that? Now Han Solo is dead.””
Billy Dee Williams added,
It was laughable until it wasn’t—until I sensed a Black-White thing might be brewing. That’s when I took a step back, put up my hands, and told people to wait a minute before they criticized me any further. I guess I had done a good job playing Lando as a dubious character. But Lando wasn’t a bad guy, I explained. Although it looked like he’d betrayed his best friend, the truth was that Lando was caught in the middle of a situation between Han Solo and Darth Vader. He had to hold onto his own situation and buy time without contributing to the complete demise of his friend.
While people got too emotional watching the story, Billy Dee Williams believes that he did an outstanding job portraying the role of Lando Calrissian in the franchise, as he explains how important this scene was for the bigger picture.
Billy Dee Williams Explains The Importance of Betraying Han Solo
Lando Calrissian’s betrayal of Han Solo was one of the most shocking scenes in the entire storyline, as the two claimed to be best friends. However, Calrissian was put in a tough spot as he had to buy time from Darth Vader without killing Han Solo. In the same memoir, he explains that the scene was carefully crafted mainly because Harrison Ford despised the role of Han Solo and George Lucas was not sure of his return, hence he was frozen, and in the process, he became the villain.
It was an intricate, carefully choreographed scene, with Lando seeming to give up Han, and Leia professing her love for the Rebel Alliance hero, who, despite the dire circumstances, calmly responds to her heartfelt admission by famously saying, “I know.” What only a very few people knew and the rest of us learned much later was that George created this amazing cliffhanger because Harrison had signed a contract only for the original and its sequel, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to play Han Solo again. George didn’t want to kill him off in case he did return. So Han was put in a deep freeze—and I was the designated bad guy.
Nevertheless, Billy Dee Williams did an outstanding job in portraying his role in the film, making the franchise more memorable.
Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back can be streamed on Disney+.
