Donald Glover’s journey as Lando Calrissian has been a twisty path from Solo: A Star Wars Story. A Disney+ spinoff series was announced, and Lando was very far along when Glover announced a creative change. Then it was announced that Lando would be a movie and not a series after all, and now it seems Disney has shelved it altogether, which was all heartbreaking to filmmaker Justin Simien, who was set to direct. He found out in the worst way. “It became clear. They probably won’t want me to say this, but I knew it was official when I read it in the trades. But the writing was super on the wall,” Simien told Collider. He explained how far along the project was:

It was pretty developed. Yeah, there was a Bible, there was concept art, there were scripts, but it just wasn’t meant to be.

“It is true grief,” continued Simien dramatically. “I’ve never had a child, I’ve never lost a child, but it’s what I imagine that pain might be like. You pour so much of your heart and soul into something, but ultimately, you don’t have control over whether it lives or dies, and it is a true grieving process […] For me, it has to be done pretty straight on like, ‘I am in grief. I do not feel good.’ I have to let myself feel those feelings.”

Related Exclusive: Director Justin Simien Gets Spooky Funny in Haunted Mansion Director Justin Simien applauds the all-star cast of Haunted Mansion and writer Katie Dippold during the SAG-AFTRA strike.

From Star Wars to Star Trek
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Fortunately, and almost ironically, Simien is moving on to the other major sci-fi franchise — Star Trek. It was announced at San Diego Comic Con that the director behind Dear White People, Bad Hair, and Haunted Mansion would be making what sounds like a Star Trek sitcom. Simien is co-creating it with the very funny actor Tawny Newsome, who is no stranger to sci-fi, having played Beckett Marine in Star Trek: Lower Decks and led the Netflix series Space Force with Steve Carrell.

Watch this space for more information about that Paramount + comedy series. In the meantime, Star Trek has already produced some very funny episodes of television, and you can check out our picks for the funniest in the video below: