The latest batch of Andor season 2 episodes was nothing short of dramatic. Things turned disturbingly violent with the Ghorman Massacre and Mon Mothma made a dangerously honest speech to the senate, but a smaller-scale conflict also came to a head.
Imperial stooge Syril Karn (Kyle Soller) finally came face-to-face with the subject of years of obsession: Cassian Andor (Diego Luna). He spots Cassian across Tarkin Square in the midst of the Empire's massacre on Ghorman and starts to fight him, but it soon becomes clear that Cassian has no idea who Syril is. "Who are you?" Cassian asks, just before Carro Rylanz shoots him in the head and kills him. It's a tragic end for Syril, but one that seems oddly fitting.
"This fight is unexpectedly equal; on any other day, Cassian would beat the shit out of Syril, no question. But Syril has this superpower released by everything that’s happened to him," Soller told Variety in a recent interview. Earlier in the episode, Syril learns that Dedra (Denise Gough) has been keeping secrets from him, including the real reason for his Ghorman posting and the Empire's presence on the planet, and he doesn't take it well.
"It was really delicate, trying to get to that moment of who’s got the upper hand at the end and Syril unexpectedly coming around with Cassian’s gun. Then the final question to Syril. There were three or four different things Cassian was going to say, and they finally ended up on 'who are you?' which I think was perfect because that breaks Syril in that moment. 'Oh my god. My obsession doesn’t even know who I am.' How gutting is that?"
When the publication asked what Cassian might have said instead, Soller replied, "It was a short list: 'You' and 'it’s you' and 'who are you?' It just completely cuts him in that moment. If Cassian had said "it's you," would Syril have had more resolve to do something or would he still have lowered his gun?"
The actor continued, "In terms of Syril's arc, it just perfectly completes the journey being used by powers that are bigger than you in this huge machine and mayhem of life. You think you've made a difference, but you haven’t."
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