Diego Luna teases "nuanced, important, vast" new Star Wars series Andor

Andor, the Rogue One spin-off all about Diego Luna's titular Cassian Andor, arrives on Disney Plus imminently. The series, which will span two seasons, is set to fill in the gaps in Cassian's story, explaining how the mysterious character came to be a revolutionary willing to give his life for the Rebellion. 

Of course, thanks to Rogue One, we know that Cassian does indeed sacrifice himself for the Death Star plans. Speaking to SFX Magazine, Luna reveals his reaction to Lucasfilm suggesting the character return for a prequel. "I thought it felt right, and that it was a great idea," he says. "It was an open space for creativity, complete freedom, because very little had been said about Cassian and about his story, so we had room to come up with great ideas, with a great team lead by Tony Gilroy [showrunner]. The show lives where I like stories to live, where the grey areas are, where contrast happens, and where nuances are important and quite vast." 

The show will delve into Cassian's past, including the fact that the future rebel's home world of Fest was destroyed by the Empire when he was a child. "I think so," Luna says of whether his home world's destruction is a motivating factor behind the man Cassian is when Andor begins. "It's quite interesting that no one speaks like him in Rogue One – no one has that accent, no one seems to come where he comes from. It must be hardcore not to have those kinds of connections – it's like [knowing] everything can be taken away from you. Imagine having that certainty, and that's the kind of character we're talking about."

As for whether Luna researched real-life revolutionaries, he explained: "No one wakes up saying, 'I'm going to do this and I'm going to bring about this change.' So many times you find these characters were part of the problem before they've understood they could be part of the solution. That contradiction is really interesting because then it gives you a very dramatic arc. With most of these characters, either they start where they don't want to end or it's the other way round, but there's always a gigantic path they have to go through where they end up transforming. That's what's beautiful. As far as possible, it'll be connected to many, many experiences that are real, and we also had the reference of the [Star Wars] galaxy we are part of. Saying we are in a galaxy far, far away is a great tool to talk about our own galaxy."

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For much more on Andor, including SFX's interview with Mon Mothma actor Genevieve O'Reilly, check out the new issue of SFX Magazine, which features Chucky on the cover and is available on newsstands from Wednesday, September 7. For even more from SFX, sign up to the newsletter, sending all the latest exclusives straight to your inbox.