Diego Luna Discusses His STAR WARS: ANDOR Series and Its Exploration of Cassian Andor
Judging from the response of Star Wars fans, Lucasfilm’s upcoming series Star Wars: Andor is the one that fans are least excited about. It doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of interest in seeing the backstory of Rogue One character Cassian Andor.
I’m not that interested either, but I do hope that the series ends up surprising us and being something unexpectedly great. Series star Diego Luna recently sat down with THR to discuss his role in the series and the continued exploration of the character:
“I think it’s really interesting to tell a story even though we know where it ends. The way you can approach a story like this inevitably takes you into a deeper process of reflection. I tend to use that word a lot. So once you know what Cassian is capable of, then there’s room for so much exploration, and that’s something that excites me a lot as an actor. I think the format of a series is amazing because we have a lot of time to explore all those layers.”
As you know, Andor died at the end of Rogue One, and Luna explains that this series will reflect on that:
“What happens in Rogue One is something we can actually reflect on, and what’s behind something like [sacrificing an informant]. I think it’s a very interesting challenge, the one we have in front of us. So I’m really excited to go back to that character because I really enjoyed playing him, and I was really happy with what the film represents. Rogue One was a story of regular people. It was regular people doing incredible things, and in a way, it’s a film that reminds us of the power we all have if we have a conviction. So, yeah, I feel blessed to have the chance to revisit this role.”
The 12-episode series is set five years before the events of Rogue One and is said to be a “tense nail-biting spy thriller.” The story focuses on Rebel agent Andor in the early days of the Rebellion against the Empire.
The series also stars Alan Tudyk as K-2SO, Genevieve O’Reilly, who will reprise her role as Mon Mothma (Rogue One, Tin Can), Denise Gough (Collett, Angels in America), Kyle Soller (Anna Karenina, The Titan), and it was also previously announced that Stellan Skarsgard (Thor, Good Will Hunting) has joined the film.
Tony Gilroy, who co-wrote Rogue One, will write, direct and serve as showrunner for the series. Additional writers on the series include Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler), Beau Willimon (House of Cards), and Stephen Schiff (The Americans).