Hey 'Star Wars,' don't leave Lando Calrissian behind!

Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian

Yesterday my Star Wars: The Force Awakens blu ray arrived and while I was reveling in the disc's satisfying special features a nagging thing about the movie and the planned future installments of this series was resurrected for me.

Where's Lando Calrissian? The character (played by the super suave Billy Dee Williams in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) is not just a fan favorite, but I would argue he's also one of the coolest and most complex characters from the beloved original trilogy.

And yet, for some reason, he seems to be marginalized in all the modern Star Wars lore, and I can't figure out why. Even at the NYC-based exhibit on the costumes of Star Wars -- he was absent -- not even his iconic cape.

What gives? Did Billy Dee Williams do something to offend the suits at LucasFilm. I want answers.

I loved The Force Awakens. I thought it was a masterpiece totally on par with the original trilogy. And while I was sad (SPOILER ALERT) that the original trio of Luke, Leia and Han weren't really united in the literal sense, at the very least the film provided answers to who they are now and where they were after nearly 30 years. Lando was not just an afterthought, he wasn't even mentioned.

He's still got it

I found this beyond odd. Calrissian was elevated to the rank of general in Return of the Jedi, had fully integrated himself within the rebel alliance and was pretty much solely responsible for destroying the Death Star (although the Ewoks certainly deserve some credit for getting those pesky shields down).

Yes, I am in full Star Wars geek mode here, so for those who could care less I apologize. Probably as the sole predominant black character in the original Star Wars universe I've always had a personal attachment to Lando, but I also found his arc -- from opportunistic rogue to genuine hero -- intriguing.

The Force Awakens suggests to some degree that Han Solo eventually reverted to his old ways -- smuggling. I am curious, is Lando back at gambling or did he try his hand at running another metropolis like Cloud City? I don't buy the premise that there simply wasn't room for him in the narrative of The Force Awakens; as much as I liked her performance and the character the function of Lupita Nyong'o's Maz Kanata could have clearly been filled by Calrissian.

Now that the cast of Episode VIII (still untitled) has been announced, there was still no Williams in sight. This has led some to speculate that his appearance in the next installment will be a surprise cameo. But a few seconds of screen time in not sufficient for such an important character in the Star Wars universe.

What's more, at 78 years old, Williams can't wait around forever to reprise his most famous role. He has made it clear, repeatedly, that he would love to play the character again. And, just like Harrison Ford brought some well-earned gravitas and complexity to Solo in The Force Awakens, I think an aging Williams could show a wiser, more sophisticated Calrissian than we've seen previously.

Also, (SPOILER ALERT) with the tragic death of Solo in The Force Awakens, the Calrissian character has every reason to have some skin in the game going forward. While their friendship was fraught with tension -- and yes betrayal -- that the characters were close again by the end of the original trilogy, and Calrissian could provide some real pathos in any attempts to exact revenge on Solo's killers.

At this point, I am not optimistic about whether Williams will be used at all going forward. But at the very least I hope he is prominently featured in the upcoming young Han Solo movie. I want to see how he lost the Millennium Falcon in a card game, I want to see what Solo really meant when he said "we go way back Lando and me."

I don't want to be deprived on this man's story, and especially since Disney seems hellbent on exploring every nook and cranny of this universe (I mean a standalone Boba Fett story, really?) that the persistent snubbing of Lando Calrissian just confounds me.