Andor has been an experience unlike any other for Diego Luna. He’s reprising his role as Cassian Andor from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but just because it’s the same character doesn’t mean everything else is.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Luna disclosed more details about the story and the different directions it’s heading in.
“I’ve never worked on a project so intense. You know what’s going to happen but you don’t know how. The storytelling is psychologically driven — it’s about the complexity of characters, not necessarily the result of an event. It’s not just about him. It’s about the beginning of a revolution, and the many characters it takes to spark that kind of change.”
Cassian Andor in Andor will be much different than where he is in Rogue One. In the latter, he’s a rebel captain willing to cross lines to restore peace to the galaxy. He teams up with Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) to steal the plans of the Death Star and send them to the Rebellion. In the movie, Cassian is strong and confident in his role, but he wasn’t always that way.
In the prequel series, Cassian will be a thief who’s not all that interested in going to war — that is, until war comes to him. The Galactic Empire’s reach is growing, and he won’t have much of a choice but to get involved or be consumed by its shadow. The series will be two seasons with twelve episodes each, and the events will lead directly into Rogue One, giving Luna a lot of time to spend in this world.
Luna pointed out that — although the show is named after his character — it’s an ensemble with many characters viewers will get to know on a deeper level. Among them are Stellan Skarsgård plays Luthen, who’s traveling from place to place recruiting people to take up the fight, and Genevieve O’Reilly plays Mon Mothma, a politician trying to help from inside the system.
Andor is also different in terms of scale. It went with practical sets and real-life locations over using the Volume, something both The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett have relied on. These features give it a more grounded and gritty feel that the story is going for alongside its relevant political themes.
Andor comes to Disney Plus Sept. 21 and premiers with the first three episodes. You can read our review here.