REBEL YELL
THE FIRST SEASON OF ANDOR CHANGED THE STAR WARS GAME, THRUSTING THE SAGA INTO PRESTIGE TV TERRITORY. NOW, WITH SEASON 2 WRAPPING IT ALL U P, STAR DIEGO LUNA AND WRITER TONY GILROY REFLECT ON THE DECADE-LONG JOURNEY OF THEIR REVOLUTIONARY HERO
WORDS BEN TRAVIS
Clockwise from main: Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) returns for Andor Season 2;
CASSIAN ANDOR WAS DEAD, TO BEGIN WITH. Just like the rest of the Rogue One crew. Because, as Star Wars fans learned in 2016, the plot to snaffle those all-important Death Star plans was, in fact, a suicide mission for all involved. Diego Luna’s shady Rebel hero perished on the Scarif beach alongside Jyn Erso. Dead, done, dusted. Or not. Because six years later, in 2022, Cassian Andor —somehow —returned, in a show that, frankly, few were asking for: the world was not waiting for a Cassian Andor prequel series. As it turned out, Andor Season 1, set five years prior to Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One, was some of the most essential Star Wars ever willed into existence —a fiercely political, defiantly grown-up slice of sci-fi co-credited to Tony Gilroy, who had boarded the film during production for still-unspecified levels of retooling. Gilroy’s show took the opera out of George Lucas’ space-opera, instead delivering human stakes, socio-political grit, and outof-this-galaxy writing. Let’s just say Anakin’s sand speech in Attack Of The Clones is no longer Star Wars’ most moving monologue.
Now, with Season 2, Luna and Gilroy are sending Andor out with a bang —presenting four final ‘chapters’ set over four years, right up to the events of Rogue One, taking our hero from scrappy believer to die-for-the-cause revolutionary. It marks the culmination of a ten-year journey for both star and writer, one last blast of uncompromising storytelling set to leave nothing on the table. They’re about to bid farewell to Star Wars for good —but not before reuniting for a rambunctious conversation with Empire.
Diego, do you remember your first day as Cassian Andor on
Rogue One
?
Diego Luna: I do. I was wearing a very thick jacket —a fantastic, blue, gigantic jacket with a collar. You know, the jacket. I tried [it on] for seven months, to tweak and do this and that. For some time, I thought I actually got the job because I fitted the jacket. (Laughs) The first day of shooting was in Jordan, and I’m asked to wear the jacket in 48 degrees. The jacket just turned against me. It was like, “Fuck! The jacket! What a bad idea!”