Lando’s Co-Pilot In ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ Is Awesome In A Way We Haven’t Seen Before

The first trailer for Solo: A Star Wars Story introduced us to Donald Glover’s suave Lando Calrissian and his equally intriguing droid co-pilot. Shortly afterward, we learned this droid is a bit of a callback to the Lando trilogy novels from the ’80s, in that she has to help Lando fly the Millennium Falcon since he’s more of a gambler than a pilot. We also suspected she’s voiced/motion-captured by Fleabag‘s Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and that’s now been confirmed by Entertainment Weekly, who reveal a lot more about this truly one-of-a-kind droid. Her and Lando may even be downright scene-stealers:

Entertainment Weekly‘s current issue hitting newsstands today reveals (among other Solo-related things) that the droid’s name is L3-37 and she has a very unique trait that makes her a great match for Lando. Like Lando, she’s independent, daring, and “self-made.” Literally self-made. She “belongs to no one and has constructed herself over the years, building upon and adjusting her original design,” EW says. Donald Glover explained, “I think they’re both kind of self-made. And they get each other in that way.”

Jon Kasdan — who co-wrote the Solo script with his dad, Star Wars screenwriting veteran Lawrence Kasdan (The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens) — explains, “She’s a complete individual in the galaxy. We wanted to have it be a completely different kind of droid than you’ve ever seen in the movies.” He later added, “L3 is subservient to no one, which is a fun kind of droid to write.”

And yes, the droid’s name, L3-37, is a reference to replacing letters with numbers in hacker “leet-speak,” with “L337” meaning “Leet” as in “Elite.” Wow. For a galaxy that’s supposed to be a long time ago and far far away they sure nailed that 1990s American geek aesthetic. HACK THE PLANET!

Wait, you guys. In Rogue One, they hacked the planet of Scarif. Whoa. That’s elite.

(Via Entertainment Weekly)