We're now two-thirds of our way through the final (or should that be second?) chapter of Andor's story, and this week suffered a major casualty (although we'd accept some not really calling it that) following the loss of Kyle Soller's Syril Karn. As the Ghorman massacre began to unfurl, Syril's dream almost came true when he found himself face-to-face with Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), only for his longtime nemesis to have no idea who he was. The shock was too much for the Empire desk weasel to comprehend before he was shot and killed by Ghorman local, Carro Rylanz (Richard Sammel). According to showrunner Tony Gilroy, it was a fitting end to a character that had spent so long trying to make an impact in the galaxy, not even being a blip on our hero's radar.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about the character's exit, Gilroy broke it all down. “It's so elementally Greek and dramatic that the thing that you've based your life on doesn't even recognize you," explained the showrunner. “Everything that he's constructed for himself doesn't even have any awareness of him. I think he's just stunned. He can't even breathe at that point. There's the guy that ruined my life that I was chasing for four years, and I'll be like this raccoon in a relentless fight, and I'll be able to kill him. And then, oh my God, he doesn't even know who I am! It seemed like the absolute essential summation of poor Syril's life.”
Selling that gut punch was Soller, who also felt pity for the character, an insignificant cog in the Empire machine, no matter how much he tried to change it. "I mean, those three words just completely diffuse Syril, and he feels like a no one, like a nobody. He hasn't made a difference. Everything has been a lie," explained the actor. "I thought maybe he'd go find a mountain somewhere just to kind of make clothes or something. I don't think that he would swap sides. I don't think he would stay doing what he was doing. I mean, yeah, it's really an unknown." You'll be able to see how a Syril-less Andor continues next week, and should you need to know when your next fix from across the galaxy is coming, here's our list of every upcoming Star Wars TV show and film that's on the way.
