Star Wars: Han & Lando Were Lovers Says Billy Dee Williams

Billy Dee Williams has spoken positively before about Lando representing a more feminine kind of masculinity. It’s no surprise that he would stoke the rumors of a Han ship in jest, or that he followed up his podcast comments with a sultry read of Lando’s iconic line, «Hello, what have we here?» presumably aimed at Han instead of Leia.

Canonically, apart from some strange wardrobe exchanges (they are eyebrow-raising, to be sure), there’s sadly no real evidence of a relationship between Han and Lando. While Lando likely would have been down to clown, as evidenced by their flirtatiously combative relationship in «Solo: A Star Wars Story,» Han’s romantic arcs have only ever been straight. He’s a himbo for sure, but unfortunately, Lucasfilm has refused to let him be a bear.

But the beauty of fan shipping is that you can have your cake and eat it too. Canon isn’t the limit of how people engage with and enjoy a story, especially in a universe as enormous and diverse as Star Wars. The franchise has been pitifully puritanical in the realm of queer representation, even in the Disney era. The most fully developed gay relationship we’ve seen in mainline Star Wars is probably the messy rebel foxhole romance between Vel Sartha (Faye Marsay) and Cinta Kaz (Varada Sethu) in «Andor.» At times, Disney’s apparent hesitance to feature primary queer characters has arguably hindered Star Wars projects, especially the sequel trilogy.