Billy Dee Williams will reprise the role of Lando Calrissian in Episode IX

Enlarge / Billy Dee Williams attends the Premiere Of Disney Pictures and Lucasfilm's Solo: A Star Wars Story. (credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Reports have begun to trickle in about exactly which characters and actors to expect in J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: Episode IX, with some reports proving firmer than others. This week brings one of the most confident reports on the production yet: Billy Dee Williams, one of the series' biggest original actors, is set to return for his first series film appearance since 1983.

The Hollywood Reporter cites "sources" familiar with the film's production to confirm that Williams will reprise the role of Lando Calrissian in Episode IX. THR was unable to otherwise confirm any details about Calrissian's role in the upcoming film, and Lucasfilm has not yet acknowledged the report with its own confirmation.

This report follows a late-June announcement from the Saskatchewan Entertainment Expo to issue the bad news that Williams would not appear as had been previously scheduled, which immediately set tongues wagging across the Star Wars fan-osphere.

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