Lando Calrissian

Nearly a decade after the Clone Wars, Lando Calrissian claimed he was retiring from a happily misspent youth as a smuggler to become a full-time gambler (he preferred the term "sportsman"), shuffling from card game to card game across the galaxy. On Vandor, Lando bet his ship – a beautifully refurbished freighter called the Millennium Falcon – against one owned by a cocky former Imperial pilot named Han Solo.

Lando won the sabacc pot and Han’s ship, which he wasn’t particularly surprised to discover didn’t exist. He agreed to join up with Han’s gang for a risky but potentially lucrative raid on Kessel, accompanying them aboard the Falcon with pilot droid L3-37. Soon afterwards, Lando lost the Falcon to Han in a rematch of their earlier sabacc game.

During the job, L3-37 instigated a revolt of both prisoners and droid slaves, but was irreparably damaged in the process. Uploading what remained of her navicomputer databanks to the Millennium Falcon, the rest of the crew was able to escape in a dangerous Kessel Run shortcut and plot a course to Savareen.

Injured, his once pristine vessel a smoking hunk of junk, and his friend and co-pilot lost, Lando retreated with what was left of his ship. But it wasn’t the last he would see of Han Solo. On Numidian Prime, he lost the Falcon to Han in a rematch game of sabacc in which his own cheat was used against him.

At the popular Lothal cantina, Old Jho's, Lando Calrissian engaged in a high-stakes game of sabacc with Zeb Orrelios of the Ghost crew. The hot-headed Lasat, confident in his hand, bet his rebel crew's droid, Chopper. Lando, however, had an Idiot's Array, shocking Zeb. "Name's Calrissian. Lando Calrissian," he said. "Now introduce me to my new droid."

While Lando had rightfully won the astromech, he agreed to return Chopper -- and pay extra -- for passage past Lothal's Imperial blockade to a secret meeting. The rebels agreed, though they were dubious of their new companion. Sure enough, when the group rendezvoused with crime lord Azmorigan, Lando offered up Hera, captain of the Ghost, in exchange for a mysterious package containing, of all things, a puffer pig. The crew was furious, but the smooth-talking smuggler claimed that he had hinted to Hera that she could escape via a pod. The Twi'lek eventually did, though she thanked Calrissian with a swift punch to the gut upon reconnecting with the Ghost.

Finally, the team took Lando back to his Lothal property. He explained that a puffer pig can detect more precious minerals than a dozen mining scanners, making it quite valuable. But before he could settle with the rebels, Azmorigan and his henchmen emerged. The gangster wanted revenge on Calrissian, and the two sides battled fiercely. Hera gained the upper hand on Azmorigan, and demanded he leave -- or die. The crime lord agreed, and with the ordeal over, Lando returned Chopper to the team. "'Til we meet again," he said, as they blasted off.

After his smuggling days Lando turned respectable, becoming administrator of Cloud City, a Tibanna gas installation in the atmosphere of the planet Bespin. But Lando hadn’t gone entirely legitimate -- Cloud City was a small operation whose backers preferred to avoid the attention of the Empire. Lando’s days as a businessman came to an end when Darth Vader arrived, accompanied by stormtroopers and Boba Fett. Vader was hunting Han and the crew of the Falcon, and told Lando they’d soon arrive on Cloud City. He offered Lando a bleak choice: set a trap for his old friend or face the Empire’s wrath. Lando welcomed Han when he arrived and agreed to help repair the Falcon’s hyperdrive – but then turned him and his companions over to Vader. After Vader repeatedly reneged on their deal, though, Lando had had enough, and decided to switch sides. He rescued Princess Leia and Chewbacca from the Empire and tried to save Han from Fett’s clutches. The bounty hunter got away with his prize, but Lando helped the others reach safety with the rebel fleet and joined Chewbacca in the search for Solo.

Flying with Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian discovered that Boba Fett had taken Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt’s palace on Tatooine. Posing as a thug for hire, Lando infiltrated the palace. He watched anxiously as the droids, Princess Leia, Chewbacca and Luke Skywalker arrived and were taken into custody, but knew it wasn’t time to reveal himself. Still in disguise, Lando accompanied Jabba’s sail barge to the Great Pit of Carkoon for the rebels’ execution. On Luke’s signal, he joined the fight to free their friends and bring Jabba’s criminal career to an end. Having kept his promise to save Han, Lando then remained in the rebel ranks, serving as a general in the starfighter attack on the second Death Star. Han lent Lando the Millennium Falcon for this dangerous mission, and Lando showed off his superb piloting skills, guiding the freighter into the Death Star superstructure and reaching the main reactor. He fired proton torpedos into the reactor and raced out of the battle station’s innards just before it exploded, breaking the Empire’s stranglehold on the galaxy.

Now a bona fide hero and at least mostly respectable, Lando settled down and started a family, only to have his infant daughter vanish – kidnapped, he later discovered, by First Order agents. Reeling from his loss, Lando accompanied Luke on a mission to Pasaana and found comfort in the company of the Aki-Aki. He decided to stay in hopes of finding solace, unaware that he would once again be called to fight the forces of evil.

Lando considered himself retired as a pilot and freedom fighter, but found he couldn’t ignore the Resistance as it battled the resurrected Emperor Palpatine. Reuniting with Chewbacca and the Falcon, he gathered a citizens’ fleet of civilian starships and led it to Exegol, arriving in time to turn the tide and ensure a Resistance victory.