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Kenny Baker, actor behind R2-D2, dies

The 3ft 8in actor, who starred in six Star Wars films as well as Time Bandits and Flash Gordon, was 83

The British actor who played R2-D2 in the Star Wars films has died at the age of 83 after a long illness.
Kenny Baker, who was 3ft 8in tall, shot to fame in 1977 when he first played the robot character.

He went on to play the character in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, as well as the three Star Wars prequels from 1999 to 2005.
Baker also appeared in a number of other much-loved films in the 1980s, including The Elephant Man, Time Bandits and Flash Gordon.
His niece, Abigail Shield, paid tribute to her uncle. She told the Guardian: “It was expected, but it’s sad nonetheless. He had a very long and fulfilled life. He brought lots of happiness to people and we’ll be celebrating the fact that he was well loved throughout the world. We’re all very proud of what he achieved in his lifetime.”

Baker and Shield’s father, Ian, grew up in Birmingham. She said: “When he was a child, he was told that he probably wouldn’t survive through puberty, being a little person in those times, they didn’t have a very good life expectancy. He did extremely well in his life. He was very ill for the last few years so we had been expecting it. He had been looked after by one of his nephews, who found him on Saturday morning.”
Baker met his wife Eileen after an appearance on the Michael Parkinson TV chat show. She wrote in and said she was a little person too and wanted to meet him. “They got married soon after,” Shield said. “Sadly she died of epilepsy about 20 years ago.”
Shield added: “He had problems with his lungs and was often in a wheelchair. He was very poorly for a long time. He was asked to go out to LA for the new Star Wars premiere but he was told he was too ill to travel. Luckily he did manage to meet George Lucas again when he came to Manchester.”

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Lando Calrissian Will Return in Star Wars Han Solo Movie

Disney and Lucasfilm are currently casting a young Lando for their second Star Wars spin-off Han Solo.

 While Lando Calrissian's whereabouts were never mentioned in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and there is no indication that we'll see him return in Star Wars: Episode VIII, LucasFilm and Disney are not done with the character by a long shot. A young Lando already turned up in Star Wars Rebels during the Disney XD animated series' first season, voiced by the legendary Billy Dee Williams. Now it is being reported that Lando will be one of the secondary characters in Han Solo: A Star Wars Story, the franchise's second spin-off following this December's Rogue One.

 Young Lando and Han will be gambling buddies, as told in past Star Wars lore. While LucasFilm and Disney have not confirmed this news, The Wrap reveals that the filmmakers are currently casting Calrissian under the codename 'Chance'. It is believed that this is in reference to the character's luck with cards and dice. No further details have been revealed about how Lando will fit into this particular story.
Lando Calrissian was first introduced in The Empire Strikes Back as the defacto leader of Cloud City. He turns traitor on his old buddy Han Solo, turning the space pirate, Princess Leia, Chewbacca and C-3PO over to Darth Vader and bounty hunter Boba Fett. He later redeems himself, and eventually helps stage a rescue of Han on the desert planet of Tatooine, where Solo is being held prisoner by gangster Jabba the Hutt. In Return of the Jedi, Lando pilots the Millennium Falcon and helps take down the second Death Star.
Han Solo and Lando Calrissian have a long and storied relationship in the Star Wars mythology, some of which has been told in novels that are no longer part of the official canon. It is well-known that Lando lost the Millennium Falcon to Han in a game of sabacc. Han would lose the ship himself later in life, only getting it back during the events depicted in The Force Awakens, which hit theaters this past December.
Billy Dee Williams reprised the role in two episodes of Star Wars Rebels titled Idiot's Array and Siege of Lothal, which roughly take place around the same time as the upcoming Han Solo movie, which will be directed by Lego Movie and Jump Street team Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Those stories are part of the official canon as it now stands, but it isn't known if there will be some sort of Rebels and Han Solo movie crossover. Alden Ehrenreich was chosen out of literally hundreds of hopefuls to play the role of a young Han Solo.
Disney and LucasFilm refuse to comment on the casting of Lando. There is no officially confirmed start date for Han Solo: A Star Wars Story. The movie will be in theaters summer 2018, following Rogue One's big debut this holiday season, and the premiere of Star Wars 8 in December 2017. We'll have more as this story breaks.