Lando is about to meet his match in Solo: A Star Wars Story. Photo : Disney

For fans, the fact that Solo: A Star Wars Story is going to show the legendary moment where Han Solo wins the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian is kind of mind-blowing. It’s one of those things we’ve always imagined, but now we get to see it. But if you can’t just wait another month to know what happens, you’re in luck. Disney screened the scene at CinemaCon 2018 in Las Vegas Tuesday morning and here’s how it goes down.


There are minor spoilers here, by the way, so proceed at your own risk.


The scene starts with Han, Chewbacca, and Qi’Ra walking into a rustic old cabin on a snow planet. They need a ship and Qi’Ra thinks she knows a guy. “It’s a long shot but it’s worth a try,” she says. “He’s the best smuggler around. He’s attractive, too. Sophisticated. Charismatic...” Han interrupts her. “I get it,” he says. As they enter, dozens of aliens are cheering on as two droids are fighting.

Qi’Ra explains that this smuggler is retired now. He’s a sportsman and he really loves his ship. A ship, she explains, he won in a game of sabacc.

And so the camera goes to a table of aliens playing this card game and we see Lando Calrissian. He’s telling a story about sleeping with an Imperial spy, but not knowing she’s a spy, and he’s everything Qi’Ra described and more. Han sizes Lando up immediately and thinks he can take him. So he asks Qi’Ra to stake him in the game, which she reluctantly does and Han approaches the table. He asks if a particular seat is taken in a sort of Graduate shot where we see Lando through Han’s legs from behind. “If no one’s in the seat, it ain’t taken, friend,” Lando says, after winning a big hand from a tablemate.

Lando asks Han if he’s ever played sabacc and Han says “a couple times.” They introduce themselves. Captain Lando Calrissian and Han Solo. Han comments on Lando’s huge stack of money. It seems he’s having a good day. “I’m a lucky guy, Han,” Lando retorts. However, he pronounces it “Han” like “Hand.” “It’s Han,” Han says, pronouncing it like “Dawn.”


Han is about to sit down and win his ship. Photo : Disney

This is where the trailer scene happens. Han asks Lando if a story he heard about him is true. “Everything you’ve heard about me is true,” Lando says, as a flying droid fills up his drink. “Thanks, love.”


Han says the story he heard is that Lando won his ship in a game of sabacc and Lando says he did. Han acts impressed. “I wouldn’t have the nerve to gamble with something I love as much as my ship,” he says. Lando asks what he flies and Han rattles off some set of numbers that impress everyone at the table. Han says he thought his ship was the fastest in the galaxy but says he hears Lando’s is even better. “It gets me where I’m going,” Lando says. Han then wins a hand. “Beginner’s luck,” he says, and smiles at Qi’Ra.

Then the scene goes into a montage. Han winning hands, Lando winning hands, aliens losing hands, people faking each other out, a pretty typical kind of typical gambling montage. People are cheering, an alien with multiple eyes uses one to try and look at Han’s cards and Han calls him out on it. Another alien chomps his nails, but it’s more like a buzzsaw. Meanwhile, some kind of bounty hunter or something comes into the cabin and we see through its robotic point of view that it zeroes in on Qi’Ra.


Then, finally, it happens. Lando tells Han he’ll call his bet and then raise him 2,000. Han says he calls the 2,000 and shoves in everything in front of him, “and I’ll raise however much this is,” he says. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, Han,” Lando says. “You might want to quit while you’re ahead.” To which Han replies, “You might want to quit while you’re behind.”

Lando laughs. Han isn’t laughing. “I’m serious,” he says. Lando says that he’s calling. “With what, your scarf?” he asks. “My ship,” Lando says. “My ship against your ship. Do you have the nerve?


“What the hell?” Han says. He smiles, and the scene cut.

You’re about to lose your ship, buddy. Photo : Disney


Since the scene cut there, we don’t know how Lando reacts when he loses, or why he ends up going on the adventure with Han. Or why he’s still flying the ship later in the movie. There are still lots of questions. But two questions can definitely be answered: As expected, Donald Glover crushes as Lando. And Alden Ehrenreich is actually pretty suave and likable as Han Solo, too.



We’ll see this scene and more on May 25 when Solo: A Star Wars Story comes to theaters.