The Galaxy Times: Media for Andor

[Meredith Quill]

Your Media Topic!

[ProudMary]

Forest Whitaker and Ben Mendelsohn to reprise their Rogue One roles as Saw Gerrera and Orson Krennic in Andor. 

https://thedirect.com/article/star-wars-rogue-one-ben-mendelsohn-cassian-andor-disney-plus-exclusive

[AnimeMania]

Andor, a tense nail-biting spy thriller created by Tony Gilroy, is set to arrive on Disney+ in 2022. Diego Luna, reprising the role of rebel spy Cassian Andor from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, will be joined by a fantastic new cast that includes Stellan Skarsgård, Adria Arjona, Fiona Shaw, Denise Gough, Kyle Soller and Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma. 

Andor will serve as a prequel to 2016's Rogue One, which saw the spy join forces with a ragtag team of rebels on a suicide mission to steal the Death Star plans from the Empire. In the movie, Cassian remarks he has been fighting for the Galactic Rebellion since he was six years old, and since then, he has gotten his hands dirty for his cause. Andor aims to tell this story, with the bulk of the series taking place five years before the events of the film.

Andor has finished filming in London.

 

[BetterButter]

Diego Luna Says ‘Star Wars: Andor’ Has Finished Shooting, And To Expect “Familiar Faces”

[tv echo]

Star Wars: Andor Season 2 Is a Go on Disney+
By Andrew Gilman    Feb 6, 2022
https://thedirect.com/article/star-wars-andor-season-2-disney 

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Given the excitement for such big shows, one of Lucasfilm's other 2022 releases has largely flown under the radar. Andor was announced at the tail-end of 2018, and following development and production delays, is finally slated to drop during Quarter 4 of this year.
*  *  *
In an interview with DN.SE, actor Stellan Skarsgard confirmed that Andor will be receiving a second season. The actor told the Swedish publication that after a brief break, he'll be returning to a few sets - including Andor, come this fall:

"We start with 'Dune 2' in July. And then in the autumn, it's time for the second season of the Star Wars series 'Andor'."

Due to COVID-19's surge, Andor experienced delays that extended its production. Skarsgard himself isn't sure when the first season will begin streaming but suggested the date will be selected with Season 2's release in mind:

"I do not know when they will start broadcasting it. It will take some time, so that it does not take too long between season one and season two."

 

Edited February 6, 2022 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Nicholas Britell to Score Disney+’s ‘Rogue One’ Prequel Series ‘Andor’
Posted: February 16, 2022 by filmmusicreporter in TV Scoring Assignments
https://filmmusicreporter.com/2022/02/16/nicholas-britell-to-score-disneys-rogue-one-prequel-series-andor/ 

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Nicholas Britell (Succession, Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk, Don’t Look Up, Cruella, Vice, The Big Short, The Underground Railroad) has been tapped to score the upcoming Disney+ original series Andor. The show is developed by Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton) and stars Diego Luna who will reprise his role of Cassian Andor from 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma, as well as Stellan Skarsgard, Denise Gough, Fiona Shaw and Kyle Soller. The Lucasfilm production takes place five years before the events of Rogue One. No plot details have been announced yet. Gilroy also serves as the project’s showrunner and additional writers include Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler), Beau Willimon (House of Cards) and Stephen Schiff (The Americans). Andor is set to premiere this year on Disney+.

 

[tv echo]

 

[tv echo]

Star Wars: The Rebellion Will Be Televised
BY ANTHONY BREZNICAN    MAY 17, 2022
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/05/star-wars-cover-the-rebellion-will-be-televised 

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... [Diego] Luna’s spy saga, Andor, hits screens late this summer. ....
*  *  *
On that day in mid-2019, when Luna was recruited for Andor, the actor remembers looking out the car window at the rooftops of the adjacent buildings, visualizing the tale about resistance-minded spies and near-death escapes. He was especially glad that [Tony] Gilroy’s proposal included details that resonated personally. Luna describes Andor as a refugee story, with desperate people fleeing the Empire at the full force of its power. “It’s the journey of a migrant,” he says. “That feeling of having to move is behind this story, very profoundly and very strong. That shapes you as a person. It defines you in many ways, and what you are willing to do.”

Gilroy breathes deep and reveals a little more about Andor. “This guy gave his life for the galaxy, right? I mean, he consciously, soberly, without vanity or recognition, sacrificed himself. Who does that?” he asks. “That’s what this first season is about. It’s about him being really revolution-averse, and cynical, and lost, and kind of a mess.” The story begins with the destruction of Andor’s birth world, then follows him into adulthood, when he realizes he can’t run forever. “His adopted home will become the base of our whole first season, and we watch that place become radicalized,” Gilroy says. “Then we see another planet that’s completely taken apart in a colonial kind of way. The Empire is expanding rapidly. They’re wiping out anybody who’s in their way.” By journey’s end, Andor’s path will be to block theirs.

The show also focuses on the enigmatic Rebel leader Mon Mothma, played by Genevieve O’Reilly, who portrayed her as a young senator in Revenge of the Sith, then reprised the role in Rogue One. Mothma (then played by Caroline Blakiston) was the priestess-like figure in 1983’s Return of the Jedi who outlines weaknesses in the new Death Star, gravely intoning, “Many Bothans died to bring us this information.” In Andor, her story will run parallel to the title character, whom we know will eventually become one of her key agents. “It is a huge, orchestral, Dickensian ensemble cast,” says Gilroy.

Luna remembers the conversation in the car as the moment he was all in. “At the end, [Gilroy] said to me, ‘You want to take this risk with me, man? It’s you and I from beginning to end,’ ” says the actor. “It was like you’d been recruited to join a Rebel force. I was like, ‘Yes! Of course, man! Yes!’ ” Then reality set in: “What did I just say? This will be happening in London? My life is in Mexico. Holy shit, what have I done?”

 

Edited May 17, 2022 by tv echo

[Fool to cry]

Wow Mon Mothma!

 

 

[tv echo]

Andor Star Wars Series: “What You Know Is Really All Wrong”
BY ANTHONY BREZNICAN     MAY 23, 2022
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/05/andor-star-wars-series-diego-luna 

[BetterButter]

[Anduin]

Wait, Mon Mothma not in white? Isn't that breaking some kind of law?

[angora]

It's so on!! This is the "new Star Wars" project (Phantom Menace and beyond) that I've been most excited about sight unseen. I've looked forward to the movies to various degrees, I went into The Mandalorian thinking, "This should be interesting," and came away loving it, and it'll be lovely to see Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan again. But Andor is the one that had me nerd-salivating from the moment it was announced. Inject it into my brain ASAP!

I actually like that the teaser focuses more on rebellion/resistance than specifically Cassian. As excited as I am to see Diego Luna back in this role (and I love the little snippets we got of him,) I liked the sense of tension building throughout the trailer with all these flashes of different characters. You can just feeling the powder keg of fomenting rebellion.

[tv echo]

SWCA 2022: 20 HIGHLIGHTS FROM LUCASFILM’S STUDIO SHOWCASE
May 26, 2022
https://www.starwars.com/news/swca-2022-20-highlights-from-lucasfilms-studio-showcase?cmp=smc|7027455325 

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9. Cassian Andor’s story is only beginning. Creator Tony Gilroy confirmed that the upcoming Disney+ Original series, which follows Cassian in a tale set five years prior to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, is just getting started. Twelve initial episodes are on the way, which will move the story one year forward. The cast and crew will get together once more in November, however, to shoot another 12 episodes. “The second 12 will take us over the next four years, and the final scene will walk you into Rogue,” Gilroy said.

Diego Luna and Genevieve O'Reilly Take The Stage At SWCA 2022 | Star Wars Celebration Live!
Star Wars   May 26, 2022

[tv echo]

Andor: Mon Mothma's Rebellion Within The Galactic Senate
IGN   May 27, 2022

Andor: The First Star Wars Series to Forego StageCraft
IGN   May 27, 2022

[tv echo]

'Obi-Wan Kenobi,' 'Andor' & 'Willow' Interviews | Star Wars Celebration 2022
CinemaBlend    May 27, 2022

[tv echo]

All the Revelations from the Star Wars Celebration Convention — Including Info on New Series
By Scott Huver    May 29, 2022
https://people.com/tv/star-wars-celebration-convention-new-series/

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Andor

The Celebration also provided a panel previewing the upcoming series, Andor, a prequel to the film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story featuring Luna reprising his role as the committed Rebel Cassian Andor, created by Tony Gilroy, writer and uncredited director of the earlier film as well as the Bourne Identity film trilogy. The series was confirmed for two seasons of 12 episodes apiece, which will lead directly into the events of Rogue One.
*  *  *
"We're able to go as far as possible from the man who will sacrifice himself for his cause," said Luna. "He's a very selfish man ... a guy waiting for that awakening to happen."

"The beauty of the show is there's no way they'll kill me," Luna joked, noting his character's doomed fate in Rogue One.

Edited May 30, 2022 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Summer TV Shows We Can't Wait to See: Evil, Ms. Marvel, The Boys, Andor, Queer as Folk, Floor Is Lava and More
By Team TVLine / May 30 2022
https://tvline.com/lists/summer-tv-best-shows-2022/ 

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ANDOR (Disney+)
...
Is there a better way to spend the summer than with Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor? We’re really looking forward to diving into the origin of the rebel hero first introduced in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The spy thriller from screenwriter Tony Gilroy has an exciting cast that also includes Stellan Skarsgård, Adria Arjona, Fiona Shaw and Genevieve O’Reilly (reprising her role as Mon Mothma), and the specific two-season plan spanning the five years prior to Rogue One only adds to our interest. (Premieres Wednesday, Aug. 31)

[tv echo]

Star Wars TV Status Report: The Latest on Lando, Mando, Ahsoka and 5 Others
By Matt Webb Mitovich / June 5 2022
https://tvline.com/lists/every-star-wars-tv-series-release-date-casting-news/ 

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ANDOR
...
WHAT IT’S ABOUT: Described as a spy thriller, Andor promises to “explore a new perspective from the Star Wars galaxy, focusing on Cassian Andor’s journey to discover the difference he can make. The series brings forward the tale of the burgeoning rebellion against the Empire and how people and planets became involved. It’s an era filled with danger, deception and intrigue where Cassian will embark on the path that is destined to turn him into a rebel hero.”

WHEN IS IT SET?: Season 1 is set five years prior to the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and will span one year.

CONFIRMED CAST: Diego Luna (as Cassian Andor), Genevieve O’Reilly (Mon Mothma), Fiona Shaw, Stellan Skarsgård, Adria Arjona, Denise Gough, Robert Emms and Kyle Soller

HOW MANY EPISODES: 12

PREMIERE DATE: Wednesday, Aug. 31 (with two episodes)

COULD THERE BE A SEASON 2?: Yep! As announced at Star Wars Celebration 2022, it is already in development and its 12 episodes will span the four years leading up to Rogue One.

[tv echo]

Andor: Tony Gilroy Explains Star Wars’ Rogue One Prequel Series’ Epic Five-Year Structure – Exclusive Image
By Ben Travis    July 4, 2022
https://www.empireonline.com/tv/news/andor-tony-gilroy-explains-star-wars-rogue-one-prequel-structure-exclusive/ 

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Among the swathe of news that came out of Star Wars Celebration this year, we learned that Andor is going to be big. The Rogue One prequel series, telling the story of Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor and the rising Rebellion at the height of the Empire’s powers, is going to be a story that spans five years – the first year of which will be explored in the 12-episode first season, starting this August. The now-confirmed second season will also consist of 12 episodes, spanning the other four years and leaving off right where Rogue One begins. That’s a massive five-year, 24-episode tale – and, speaking to Empire in the new issue, creator Tony Gilroy dug a little deeper into that structure, and how the series will play out.

“The scale of the show is so huge,” Gilroy explains, speaking at Celebration after the debut of the trailer. “Directors work in blocks of three episodes, so we did four blocks [in Season 1] of three episodes each.” That shooting schedule organically led to Season 2’s different structure. “We looked and said, ‘Wow, it’d be really interesting if we come back, and we use each block to represent a year. We’ll move a year closer with each block’,” he says. “From a narrative point of view, it’s really exciting to be able to work on something where you do a Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and then jump a year.”

For all that it’s spanning multiple years, within the Rebellion and the Empire, and with supporting characters including Genevieve O’Reilly’s returning Mon Mothma and Stellan Skarsgård’s brand new character Luthen, the throughline here remains Andor himself – with Luna promising a more character-focused story this time around. “Rogue One is more about an event than the actual journey of [the] characters,” he says. “It’s quite amazing to start a show where it’s not about where we can end – it’s about, how did we end there?” Get ready: the beginning of the end is nigh.

 

Edited July 4, 2022 by tv echo

[tv echo]

[j5cochran]

Is that Anton Lesser sitting at the head of the big table, at about five seconds into the video? I don't see his name associated with this on IMDB, but it sure looks like him.  And it would explain why his character on Endeavour, Chief Superintendent Bright, had rather long hair for a high-ranking policeman in the early 1970s  in Oxford, UK.

[tv echo]

Note the change in premiere date to September 21...

Andor | Official Trailer | Disney+
Star Wars    Aug 1, 2022

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... Experience the three-episode premiere September 21.

-- Diego Luna: “It’s quite unique, because we know what Cassian is capable of... We’re going to meet him when he doesn’t know he’s capable of that. We’re going to meet him when life is tough, it’s a very dark and interesting life because he's just a regular guy that suddenly has to become part of something bigger, has to become part of a community that rises. It’s the beginning of the origins of a revolution, you know, and it’s a beautiful story because it reminds us what we are capable of, you know, what we are all capable of. There’s no Jedis around — it’s people having to take control.”

-- Diego Luna: “Suddenly I’m a kid on the set, because everything’s real, everything’s there. We don’t work with green screens — the stuff is built. The props work. They make noises.”
 

Edited August 1, 2022 by tv echo

[Morrigan2575]

That looks awesome.  I'm very excited for Andor been waiting awhile for it to premiere  

[paigow]

Maybe delayed to reduce overlap with She-Hulk on Disney...

[WritinMan]

That new trailer is fantastic!

[krankydoodle]

On 7/20/2022 at 9:26 PM, j5cochran said:

Is that Anton Lesser sitting at the head of the big table, at about five seconds into the video?

I think so. It looks like Ben Miles is also in this even though it's not listed on his IMDB credits yet either. I think I spotted Alastair Mackenzie, too.

I'm usually not interested in prequels so hadn't planned on watching this despite liking Diego Luna and Rogue One, but the trailer looks amazing. I didn't realize that the show would have a much broader scope and depict the growing rebellion, but I love that angle especially with Tony Gilroy writing. I hope it doesn't spend too much time on Cassian's childhood. Fingers crossed the show manages to live up to the trailer.

Edited August 2, 2022 by krankydoodle

[arc]

unaffiliated cinematographer on claims in the news that Andor didn't use The Volume:

(he continues:)

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Also like... there are still practical sets within the volume, It's not just an empty room with LED walls. Like... what are we even doing here. The replies here are just grim. "Practical is better," they comment on a video where nearly every shot has some CGI or VFX element in it

Also also, the volume *IS* for all intents and purposes a practical effect to capture interactive in-camera lighting effects and set extensions. That’s the whole point of it! How has it become synonymous with “VFX bad.” I thought that was green screen? WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE.

[tv echo]

Diego Luna Discusses Starring in New Disney+ Series "Andor" | The View
The View   Aug 3, 2022

'Andor’ Showrunner Explains K-2SO’s Absence From ‘Rogue One’ Prequel
BY JAMES HIBBERD   AUGUST 3, 2022
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/andor-k2so-star-wars-disney-1235191968/ 

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Star Wars fans are excited about Disney+’s Rogue One prequel drama Andor, but one beloved character from the movie isn’t showing up anytime soon: Alan Tudyk’s acerbic Imperial droid K-2SO.

“From a storytelling point of view, there are multiple reasons,” head writer Tony Gilroy told critics at the Television Critics Association’s press tour on Wednesday. “I would say, ‘Wait and see.’ It’s a story we are eager to tell. It’s difficult to carry an Imperial droid around with you and not draw all kinds of attention. It’s a difficult piece of luggage. When we do it, we’ll do it in a spectacular fashion as opposed to presenting it and ignoring it, or presenting it or hiding it, or the bad versions we would have been forced to do.”

“We have five years [before the events in Rogue One],” star Diego Luna said. “If he knew K2 back then there would be no journey to go through.”

“We’re starting him so far away from the person who would know how to — or be motivated to — reprogram an Imperial droid,” Gilroy added. 

Gilroy also revealed the show’s master plan includes the debut season covering one year in Andor’s life and the second – and final – season will cover four years. “Our last scene of the show, our 24th episode, will walk the audience directly into Rogue One and directly into the first scene of Rogue One.”
*  *  *
The writer also explained why the show would not use the volume LED stage that Disney+’s other Star Wars shows use. The stage is a cost-saving measure that handily inserts real-time backgrounds but can also lend itself to a fuzzy, claustrophobic feeling and some fans online have been celebrating Andor‘s apparent rejection of the technology.

“The technology is extraordinary and it’s going to become a larger and larger force in filmmaking,” he said. “Nobody’s against the volume, the volume is fantastic for the things that it’s for. Our show was just on a massively epic scale and people would be running off the set all the time. Right now, there’s no good way to do both. You have to make a decision to be a volume show or a non-volume show. You can’t jump back and forth. There are some things that we we wish we could have done on volume, they might have been simpler. But our show is huge. We have 211 speaking parts. It just didn’t lend itself to that kind of production.”

Every Major Announcement and Trailer from Disney at the 2022 Summer TCAs
By Zach Johnson   AUGUST 4, 2022
https://d23.com/every-major-announcement-and-trailer-from-disney-at-the-2022-summer-tcas/ 

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Disney+
*  *  *
The 12-episode series Andor takes place before the events of the 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Debuting Wednesday, September 21, with three episodes, Andor will explore a new perspective from the Star Wars galaxy, focusing on Cassian Andor’s journey to discover the difference he can make in an era filled with danger, deception, and intrigue. During Wednesday’s presentation, actor Diego Luna and creator and showrunner Tony Gilroy said Andor will have two seasons set over a five-year period. “We are covering one year in our first 12 episodes that we’ve completed,” Gilroy said. “We are going to do another 12 episodes starting this November.”

Edited August 5, 2022 by tv echo

[BetterButter]

Rogue One's coming back to IMAX, along with an early look at Andor

[tv echo]

Steal from the Empire | Andor | Disney+
Star Wars   Aug 24, 2022

[tv echo]

'Star Wars' Star Diego Luna Recalls Level of Details From 'Andor' Sets | Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly   Aug 25, 2022

[tv echo]

Andor is ‘the most grounded Star Wars you can get,’ says Diego Luna
By Zosha Millman  Aug 30, 2022
https://www.polygon.com/23311750/andor-star-wars-diego-luna-interview-preview 

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“I don’t think he wants to be a hero,” Luna tells Polygon. “Definitely when we meet him he doesn’t think he’s capable of doing anything important. He’s surviving, he’s a mess. He’s in a very cynical moment where he’s not thinking further than his nose.”
*  *  *
“The idea that we can do a story that takes him literally from his childhood origins, and walk him through a five-year history of an odyssey that takes him to that place — during a revolution, during a moment in history where huge events are happening and real people are being crushed by it,” Gilroy said at an Andor press conference in August. “The fact that we could follow somebody as an example of a revolution all the way to the end [...] that was the buy-in for me, the opportunity to do that.”
*  *  *
“We’ve met Mon Mothma before in different iterations, different versions of the Star Wars storytelling. And each time we’ve met her, we’ve met this very composed, regal, dignified woman,” Genevieve O’Reilly, who plays Mon Mothma, said at a press conference for the show. “[Here], she is still that very dignified senator. But for the first time we get to see the woman behind the role. We get to see a private face of Mon Mothma; we get to flesh out not just the senator, not just the would-be leader of the Rebel Alliance, but also the woman.”
*  *  *
In the show’s first few episodes, we’re introduced to two faces of the Dark Side much lower on the ladder than we’ve met before: There’s Dedra Meero (Denise Gough), an ambitious and meticulous Imperial Security Bureau officer who hopes to climb the ranks of the Empire. Then there’s Syril Karn (Kyle Soller), the enforcer for a local company with significant power in Cassian’s town. Their stories are the kind of subtle ones Star Wars thrives on — two people who are the heroes of their own story, and whose longing for power promises darker things.

“Having a character who wasn’t really sure about himself was what kind of made him the most fun to play,” Soller said of Syril. “He could kind of go either way — he could go into the Empire, he could go into the Rebel Alliance. He’s got a lot of gray area. And he came from a place of such lack, and such pain in his home life. He’s trying to fill this void within himself through the fascist corporate bureaucratic structure where he finds order and he finds a place to be seen if he can supersede his station.”
*  *  *
“It’s a different approach. It’s still about change, it’s still about freedom, it’s still about justice. But it’s a different approach. It’s the most grounded Star Wars you can get,” Luna says. “I think [Cassian’s] process is going to be more about learning what a community can do. It’s a different thing, you know? This is a story about people — regular people understanding what they’re capable of if they articulate things in community, if they articulate actions in community.” 

Do You Need to Watch Star Wars Movies Before Andor? Producer Responds
By Andrew Gilman   Aug 31, 2022
https://thedirect.com/article/star-wars-movies-before-andor 

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During the press conference for Star Wars: Andor, showrunner and producer Tony Gilroy stated that diehard fans are the team's "hall card:"

“Well, look, I mean there’s no secret, the show exists because of the important, passionate Star Wars community. And I know it’s not a monolithic community, but there’s many different versions and factions within it, but there’s this huge dedicated Star Wars community that shows up for all. And they have been… That’s our hall card. That’s what gave us the money, and the momentum, and the ability to make a show that’s this insanely big…"
*  *  *
"And at the same time, there’s no secret; their partner, their boss, their girlfriend, their boyfriend, their mother, their father, there are a lot people that are Star Wars-adjacent or Star Wars-averse. And you should be able to watch out show… This could be your entry point to Star Wars. You could watch our 24 episodes, that could be your way in. We’re doing a show that does not require any prior knowledge whatsover to get involved…"
*  *  *
"And that’s the gamble. Can we satisfy, and electrify, and excite the dedicated fans and can we, at the same time, bring something that’s so intense emotionally, and seems so true, and the smallest domestic dramas, and the smallest interpersonal relationships that are dropped down in the midst of the epic, tectonic, revolutionary, historical moments where people have to make huge decisions. Can we attract another audience that’s interested in that as well? Can we marry those two things together? That’s what we’re trying to do.”

Diego Luna spoke on the different Cassian Andor seen at the beginning of the series, describing the character's journey as proof that "anyone can do something" to improve the world:

“I think it’s, ‘How far can someone be from learning he could be a tool of change… how far can you be from that and still find your way into acknowledging that you are capable of big stuff,’ you know? It was that… You see [Cassian] in the first episode and you don’t see any possibility of that happening. That, to me, gives me hope, you know, in the world we live. If that’s possible, anyone can do something. We can all find what we are capable of… "
*  *  *
"And I always thought of him as a character that has been forced to move. Therefore, he brings a pain that he’s carrying that is making him very cynical about life, you know? And exploring that person and then finding a way to get the clarity of someone who suddenly starts believing, who goes through a process of acknowledging that articulating something in community can give you enough strength to be useful and to bring change."

Andor’s Adria Arjona on Her Relationship With Diego Luna's Cassian Andor
Collider Interviews   Aug 28, 2022

Edited August 31, 2022 by tv echo

[AnimeMania]

Andor is the story of a thief, Cassian Andor, who becomes a Rebel spy. This is what happpened in his life the five years before the events that were depicted in the 2016 film (also about Cassian Andor's adventures) "Rogue One".

[tv echo]

How Andor Brings a New Level of Maturity to Star Wars
By Simon Cardy   Sep 2, 2022
https://www.ign.com/articles/how-andor-brings-a-new-level-of-maturity-to-star-wars 

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“I mean, you don't work with Tony Gilroy if you don't want to stay in the grey areas”, says star Cassian Andor. “It's what his writing is about, when he's at his best. Because this story is about people, there's no Jedi around, therefore it's just people surviving. On both sides, there are people, like you and me, and people make choices. Sometimes you succeed with those choices, sometimes you fail, and sometimes you realize you're on the wrong side. Life should give you the chance to react to that, and change, and transform.”
*  *  *
“You're not born good and therefore you'll be good, and that's it. You transit from one side to the other. Sometimes we start being indifferent to something, and then the realization comes, and we should have a chance to become who we want to be, and to transform.”
*  *  *
“I love that you meet Mon Mothma with Stellan's character, Luthen”, states Mothma actor Genevieve O’Reilly. “He’s such a mysterious and interesting character within Andor. You meet her with him and it's in his world. So I think it will be quite interesting for fans to reset or look at her through a different perspective and to have to learn what she has to fight for or what she has to work for through him. He's a really enigmatic character in this and I loved working with Stellan. We had so much fun filming those scenes.”

Playing a Star Wars villain always seems one of the most fun jobs on a LucasFilm set. For Kyle Soller and Denise Gough, who play the Empire’s Syril Karn and Dedra Meero respectively, it was no different. And like most great villains, they are convinced they are the heroes of their story.

“I mean that's human life isn't it?”, asks Soller. “Everybody's filled with light and shade, and a hero and a villain within themselves.”
*  *  *
“I think the bravery of actually trying to present a new world, a new kind of Star Wars, where people make questionable decisions, where people are really complex and contradictory and are trying to figure out a way to survive or circumvent their own station or find a place of belonging. Within that you have to make sacrifices to yourself or to the greater good. I certainly feel like I have an understanding of where Syril is and what makes him tick, and that he's still threatened by questioning, is this the right path? Then Dedra makes it quite clear that it is the right path.”

“They're kind of rebels in the empire”, explains Gough. “Dedra thinks the rebels are an actual threat and that's what makes her quite obsessive, because I think she sees the Imperials as thinking they're just a nuisance. What brings these two together is that they see there's an actual real threat that needs to be stopped.”
*  *  *
“I think that what I love about it is that Dedra is quite focused on going to any lengths to get power, but also to get Cassian Andor. I like that she's unapologetic in the decisions that she makes and it's important that we show that female characters can do that too. She's not asking permission. She's not giving you a really sad backstory that makes it ‘oh but actually poor Dedra’. She's quite human, but she is also incredibly vicious, and so often when you get a female villain, you have to soften it in some way and I really love that we don't really do that.
*  *  *
“There's so much work happening today that I get inspired by", Luna continues. "In my country, which is a very complicated country, there are so many people fighting for justice and freedom. That inspires me, and definitely I was thinking of those people when I was playing this role. Another thing I was thinking a lot is about Cassian's background, when he was forced to do it, as a kid. Clearly without saying too much, I mean, he's been forced to move. He's always migrating, moving from one place to another, he's a refugee that can't go back to where he belongs. That energy is out there, that energy connects with so much happening out of this room, and out of set in the real world, the one you and I live in. So that served a lot as an inspiration.”
*  *  *
“When you talk about storytelling, I think those are the stories that matter, those are the stories that I connect with. The ones where you don't think it's going to happen, and suddenly boom! That transformation comes. Cassian is one of those. When we meet him at the beginning, he's surviving, he's just in a very cynical state of his life where he's just very selfish and childish in many ways, he's so not aware of what he's capable of.”

“The beauty of this story is that he's going to find out through the process of these two seasons, and we're going to see an interesting transformation. The awakening of a revolutionary, and what needs to happen for someone to be willing to sacrifice everything for a cause.”

Genevieve O'Reilly on Playing Mon Mothma in 'Andor' | Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly    Sep 1, 2022

Fall TV Popularity Poll: Which New Network, Cable and Streaming Shows Are YOU Most Interested In? Vote!
By Matt Webb Mitovich / August 31 2022
https://tvline.com/lists/fall-tv-most-popular-new-shows/ 

Quote

Afterward, drop a comment with more of your thoughts on which shows intrigue you this fall! (Poll closes Sept. 7 at 9:30 am ET.)
*  *  *
Andor (Disney+)
Set five years prior to Rogue One, this series promises a new perspective from the Star Wars galaxy, focusing on Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and his journey to discover the difference he can make. (Premieres Wednesday, Sept. 21)

Edited September 2, 2022 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Timeline | Andor | Disney+
Star Wars   Sep 2, 2022

 

Diego Luna Says ‘Andor’ Is Going to Challenge What You Think You Know About ‘Rogue One’
BY BRIAN DAVIDS      SEPTEMBER 1, 2022
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/andor-diego-luna-talks-star-wars-return-season-2-1235209806/ 

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Series creator/showrunner, Tony Gilroy, who co-wrote Rogue One, has already mapped out Andor season two, which will shoot 12 episodes in four three-episode blocks, with each block representing a year of story. ....
*  *  *
Tony Gilroy has said in the past that his superpower was not being a lifelong Star Wars fan, as that’s what allowed him to make bold choices on Rogue One. And I feel that lack of fear on Andor as well. Could you also sense that he was unafraid to tell a new type of Star Wars story?
I think so. Tony is just not afraid, period. (Laughs.) It has nothing to do with Star Wars or his work. I admire the guy so much. He experienced freedom in a very rigorous way, which I love. It is very interesting to have a voice like his in this story. You never approach a story this way where you know what the end is and the creative team doesn’t have to deliver an ending that you’re not expecting. We don’t have to think about that.

In fact, we’re going to challenge every idea you have, or every answer you came up with, for why or how things happened and why this character did what he did. Why was he willing to sacrifice everything for the cause? What did it mean when he said, “I’ve been in this fight since I was six years old”? What did he mean when he said, “I’ve done terrible things on behalf of the Rebellion”? So that’s what we’re going to challenge because everyone who watched Rogue One thinks they have the answer. We’re going to challenge that, and we’re going to come to you and say, “No, listen, things were not the way you imagined. They were this way. This had to happen for someone to become the person you know.” 
*  *  *
What do you think of Tony’s plan for season two as every three episodes will represent a year’s worth of story?
I think it’s perfect. It’s lovely. It’s almost like four different movies [via four three-episode blocks]. Three episodes will be a very strong block to explore a year, another year, and then another year and another year. There is also space in between each block where time passes, so we’re allowed to evolve and transform. But I think that’s part of season one, too. How many episodes have you seen? 

The first four.
Yeah, so when you saw episode three, you probably went, “I think I know the characters, the tone and what the series is going to be about,” but then we take you where episode four goes. And you were like, “What!? Where are we going? What’s going on? What happened?” So I think that’s something that this long format gives us. It’s the flexibility to literally transform and go somewhere else and meet other characters and find other planets and discover new things. It’s a fantastic format, and it’s very ambitious. It’s complete freedom. You have room, you have space, you have time, and that is lovely when you have something to say.

[tv echo]

Star Wars Andor | Special look | Disney+
Manuel Giasson-Léger    Sep 8, 2022

Exclusive 1st look Disney+ series, 'Andor' [VIDEO]
September 8, 2022
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/video/exclusive-1st-disney-series-andor-89513914 
 

[BetterButter]

[tv echo]

Includes Andor stars appearing on stage - Genevieve O'Reilly, Kyle Soller, Adria Arjona and Diego Luna...

Star Wars and Lucasfilm Presentation Highlights | D23 Expo 2022
IGN   Sep 11, 2022

 

[tv echo]

 

Diego Luna Goes Rogue
BY IANA MURRAY    September 14, 2022
https://www.gq.com/story/gq-hype-diego-luna 

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Cassian Andor, the intergalactic spy played by Diego Luna in the Star Wars universe, is an enigma at first. In the 2016 spin-off Rogue One, Andor vaguely alludes to his lifelong fight for the rebel cause, at one point telling a fresh recruit, “I have been in this fight since I was six years old.”

Out of that line blossomed Andor, a new Disney+ prequel series set a few years before Cassian gave his life for the Rebel Alliance, which tracks his evolution from recalcitrant cynic to martyr. The show, out in September, is part origin story, part political awakening, a saga about how imperialism can shake a population out of its reverie and make it fight back. Luna tells me that, at its core, Andor is “about a community that is waking up.”
*  *  *
... With Andor, the actor, now 42, is transcending the art house roles that have so far defined his career to become a leading man in a multibillion-dollar franchise.

Nevertheless, Luna doesn’t measure success by scale. “We’re not here for the fireworks,” he says. “We’re still telling very intimate stories and character-driven journeys. I like to be able to have that texture in a universe like this.” Luna connected Cassian’s refugee status to the forced migration he sees happening all around the world. (As a child, Andor’s home world gets destroyed by the Empire.) “He’s got a directorial eye,” his former costar Sienna Miller tells me. “He approaches something not just as an actor, he really sees the bigger picture.”

Of course, finding and holding onto space for artistry inside the vast bureaucracy of the Star Wars machine isn’t exactly easy. You’re searching for glints of Shakespeare inside the terms and conditions. With Luna, that stubborn insistence on storytelling and heart trickled down through the rest of the Andor cast. Tony Gilroy, the series’ creator, tells me that “the personality, leadership skills, grace, and empathy of the person that occupies number one on the call sheet has an incredible effect on a show.” In Luna, he found that he “could not have a better number one.”

[tv echo]

 

 

 

 

Andor Early Reactions Largely Praise A Star Wars Show Unlike Any Other
BY ANA DUMARAOG    SEPTEMBER 15, 2022
https://screenrant.com/andor-early-social-reactions-star-wars/

Star Wars: Andor First Reactions Arrive Online
By CHARLIE RIDGELY - September 16, 2022
https://comicbook.com/starwars/news/star-wars-andor-series-reactions-fans-online-disney-plus/

First Andor Reactions Tease a New Type of Star Wars Show
By Germain Lussier    September 16, 2022
https://gizmodo.com/andor-reviews-social-media-star-wars-diego-luna-disney-1849540716

First Andor reactions say it’s more like an HBO series than a Star Wars show – and that’s no bad thing
By Bradley Russell  September 16, 2022
https://www.gamesradar.com/andor-reactions-disney-plus/
 

Edited September 16, 2022 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Special Look | Andor | Disney+
Star Wars   Sep 17, 2022

From Rogue One to Andor: Diego Luna, Genevieve O'Reilly Share What Most Surprised Them About Prequel Series
By Matt Webb Mitovich / September 18 2022
https://tvline.com/2022/09/18/andor-preview-diego-luna-genevieve-oreilly-rogue-one-star-wars-prequel/ 

Quote

“What does it mean to start a fight when you’re six years old? What makes you miss your childhood that way, that you are part of a movement already?” asks Luna. “We’re going to see what that line meant, and I was just shocked when I read what [Andor creator] Tony [Gilroy] was proposing — which happens to me often with the writing of Tony Gilroy. It’s so complex and unique, but it’s so juicy also.”

Gilroy, who co-wrote the Rogue One screenplay, “has an answer for everything,” Luna avows, “and Cassian’s backstory is intense. It’s powerful, it’s emotional, and I think audiences are going to see him differently after understanding what happened in his childhood.”
*  *  *
Genevieve O’Reilly says that what surprised her most about her own character’s backstory via Andor was to see the woman Mon Mothma was as a upright senator (with a secret or two…), years before she’d become leader of the Rebel Alliance (and then the first chancellor of the New Republic, as played in Return of the Jedi by Caroline Blakiston).

“I love this woman, and I’ve played this woman a number of times,” O’Reilly notes for TVLine, “and I think what surprised me was the opulence of her life, the opulence of that empire that she was living in.

 

Andor Showrunner Said His Mandate Was to Completely Avoid Fan-Service
By Ryan Leston    Sep 18, 2022
https://www.ign.com/articles/andor-showrunner-said-his-mandate-was-to-completely-avoid-fan-service 

Quote

“We didn’t want to do anything that was fan service,” [Tony Gilroy] explained. “We never wanted to have anything… the mandate in the very beginning was that it would be as absolutely non-cynical as it could possibly be, that the show would just be real and honest.”
*  *  *
But that doesn’t mean there won’t be the occasional cameo.

“We will be introducing people along the way,” he added. “I don’t think it’s any secret that Forest Whitaker is in the show… Saw Gerrera is in the show. There will be some other people. But when we bring them, we bring them because we need them and because there’s really some protein there, there’s something for them to really do.”
*  *  *
Gerrera is considered by Star Wars producer Dave Filoni to be “the first rebel”.

‘Andor’ Ushers in a Grittier, More Grounded ‘Star Wars’ Era
By Ben Lindbergh  Sep 19, 2022
https://www.theringer.com/star-wars/2022/9/19/23360036/andor-disney-plus-tony-gilroy-gritty-star-wars 

Quote

Most of those terrible things are still ahead of Cassian when his spinoff prequel series starts—but it doesn’t take long for him to start walking away from things he’ll want to forget. Between Cassian’s ethically compromised actions and the writing and showrunning of Rogue One cowriter Tony Gilroy, who’s known for morally complex thrillers such as Michael Clayton and the first four Bourne movies, Andor (which debuts Wednesday on Disney+) has the potential to be the most mature, gritty, and grounded Star Wars ever seen on screen. As such, it’s set to provide fresh fodder for a 45-year debate about the target audience for the franchise.

George Lucas has long insisted that Star Wars, like Trix, is for kids, and that those who find fault with its more juvenile elements are making the same mistake as the Trix rabbit. ....

In 2017, Lucas reiterated his stance when speaking about the original Star Wars. “It’s hard for people to realize, and I’m not supposed to say this, and I wasn’t supposed to say it then, but it’s a film for 12-year-olds.” ....
*  *  *
Andor is different. “I don’t think it’s a show for 9-year-olds,” Gilroy told Variety last month. 12-year-olds might be pushing it too. The headline of the story in which that quote appeared—“How Andor Became the first Star Wars TV Series for Grown-Ups,” which ran beneath an image from the show of a grim-faced Luna and Stellan Skarsgård—is a little reductive, in that there’s plenty for grown-ups to savor in previous Star Wars series, from Rebels to The Mandalorian. Even some of the series that were pitched more toward kids contained some mature scenes and themes, as evidenced by YouTube’s multiple montages of the non-kiddy content in The Clone Wars. (In fairness to The Flanneled One, even The Phantom Menace, which Lucas labeled “a children’s film,” featured talk of trade routes, senate deliberations, Qui-Gon Jinn getting killed by a Sith Lord, and that same Sith Lord getting cut in half.) But if Andor isn’t really the first Star Wars TV series for grown-ups, it may be the first that’s definitively not for kids.

Naturally, the use of sex and explicit language—Star Wars swear words aside—on Andor isn’t likely to make anyone confuse Disney+ for HBO. And the violence may be no more graphic than, say, Darth Vader massacring civilians on Obi-Wan Kenobi. On Andor, though, the violence may not be as easily condemned when it’s done by villains or justified when it’s done by the protagonists. It may not even be possible to place characters neatly in one category or the other. As Luna told Collider, “Tony is not a writer that lives in the language of right and wrong, or black and white. He spends his time in the complexity of the gray areas and the contradictions of the characters.” And as Gilroy said to The New York Times, “It gets into character, behavior, and plots that are as complicated and as real as anything I’ve ever done.”
*  *  *
When Andor begins, about five years before the events of Rogue One and Episode IV, the Empire has consolidated its control of the galaxy. It’s not just a dark time for the Rebellion; it’s a time so dark that there’s barely a Rebellion at all. Cassian has been fighting, running, and suffering from the tumult of a war-torn galaxy his whole life. He has little to lose—and, crucially, Disney has little to lose by letting him behave in questionable ways, because we already know from Rogue One what kind of man he is, and how and when he dies. Andor’s days on-screen are numbered, as are (by choice) Gilroy’s as a Star Wars auteur, so the Mouse might as well make the most of them and take what for Disney qualifies as a creative risk.

[Anduin]

“We didn’t want to do anything that was fan service,” [Tony Gilroy] explained. “We never wanted to have anything… the mandate in the very beginning was that it would be as absolutely non-cynical as it could possibly be, that the show would just be real and honest.”

I read somewhere that people complaining about this, which I find baffling. Why does it need gratuitous fanservice or shoutouts? It is not enough to be set in the Star Wars universe, with all the styling that goes along with it?

That was one of my problems with Solo. Trying to set up everything relevant to the later Han we know and love. It felt like the story was almost purely a vehicle for these moments, so it fell pretty flat in in my eyes.

[tv echo]

Mild spoilers for premiere episode...

Andor Review: Rogue One Prequel Differs From Every Star Wars Series Before It, in the Best Ways
By Matt Webb Mitovich / September 20 2022
https://tvline.com/2022/09/20/andor-review-star-wars-rogue-one-prequel-disney-plus/ 

Quote

The origin of Rebel Alliance intelligence officer Cassian Andor and what drew him into the good fight is at the fore of Disney+’s latest live-action Star Wars series, which is a slow-burn espionage tale worth sticking with.
*  *  *
The premiere finds Cassian (again played by Rogue One‘s Diego Luna) skulking around the red-light district on the planet Morlana One, where he is furtively asking around about someone who disappeared from his life. Following a most unfortunate series of events, Cassian flees home to the mining planet Ferrix, with Deputy Inspector Syril Karn (Poldark‘s Kyle Soller) of the Imperial corpos hot on his tail. With the action switching to Ferrix, we meet Maarva Andor (Killing Eve‘s Fiona Shaw), Cass’ adoptive mother; Bix Caleen (Emerald City‘s Adria Arjona), a salvage yard mechanic who has a complicated past with Cass; and B2EMO (voiced by Dave Chapman aka BB-8), a uniquely charming droid who has been at Maarva’s side for years.

Cassian’s extremely precarious situation leads him to request a favor from Bix, who through her business exploits has an “in” with the well-connected Luthen Rael (Chernobyl‘s Stellan Skarsgård). Other cast members include Genevieve O’Reilly (reprising her Rogue One/Revenge of the Sith role of Mon Mothma), Denise Gough (Under the Banner of Heaven), Faye Marsay (Deep Water) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear), while Forest Whitaker will reprise his own Rogue One role of Saw Gerrera.
*  *  *
... Yes, it’s a bit of a slow burn in the early goings — the decision to launch with the first three episodes, which run just 35-40 minutes each, was a prudent one —  but by the end of Episode 3 (and absolutely at the close of Episode 4), you’ll be most anxious to see what happens next. Rogue One co-writer Tony Gilroy serves as showrunner and penned Andor’s first three episodes (as well as Eps 11 and 12), and you can fell the same, smart, caper-based tone he brought to Cass’s big-screen introduction.

“A POTENT MOMENT IN HISTORY”: INSIGHTS FROM TONY GILROY AND THE ANDOR CAST
September 21, 2022
https://www.starwars.com/news/andor-launch-interview-gilroy-and-cast 

Quote

Gilroy recognizes that it’s a risk to pen a Star Wars story with no lightsaber-swinging Jedi Knights — one that feels more akin to the spy thrillers and sweeping dramas on his screenwriting résumé. “Can we bring something that’s so intense emotionally and seems so true and has the smallest domestic dramas and the smallest interpersonal relationships that are dropped down in the midst of the epic tectonic revolutionary historical moments where people have to make huge decisions? Can we attract another audience that’s interested in that as well? Can we marry those two things together?” Gilroy asks. “That’s the gamble. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
*  *  *
With two seasons spanning 24 episodes, Andor will cover the five years leading up to Rogue One, exploring not only Andor’s personal journey, but the fate of the galaxy itself, as told through the relationships of existing characters like Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) and Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), as well as newcomers including Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgard), Maarva Andor (Fiona Shaw), Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona), and the Empire’s Imperial Security Bureau Supervisor Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) and Pre-Mor Inspector Syril Karn (Kyle Soller).
*  *  *
“We’re supposed to be a mirror for audiences to be able to see themselves,” Luna says. “I think it makes sense if we’re talking about a galaxy where there’s so many planets that people come from different places, you know? And if we’re talking about refugees, they come from different places and they gather in one place and they sound different, they look different. And that diversity, I mean, it’s what makes this — the reality I live in — very rich, you know? I celebrate that the stories we see reflect on that.”
*  *  *
“We’ve met Mon Mothma before in different iterations, in different versions of the Star Wars storytelling, and each time we’ve [seen] this kind of composed, regal, dignified woman,” adds Genvieve O’Reilly, who has portrayed the senator from Chandrila off and on for nearly 20 years since first being cast in the role — for an ultimately deleted scene in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. “I think what’s extraordinary about how Tony has written Andor and where he has chosen to begin this story is so very different to where we find Mon Mothma in Rogue One. She is still that very dignified senator, but for the first time, we get to see the woman behind the role. We get to see the private face of Mon Mothma. We get to flesh out not just the senator, not just the would-be leader of a Rebel Alliance, but also…We see a woman who has had to navigate her ideals and her beliefs within systems of oppression. We find her in a bit of a gilded cage. What I’m excited for is for us to travel that story with her, to journey with her as a woman finding her voice, and reaching for voices that are fighting for similar things, finding community, finding collaborators to be able to eventually be the leader that she becomes in Rogue One.”
*  *  *
Of course, all storylines tie back to the central character to ask the question: Who is Cassian Andor?

“We know where he ends up and we know how accomplished and complicated he is,” Gilroy says. The creator and writer behind the series was drawn in by “the idea that we can do a story that takes him literally from his childhood origins and walk him through a five-year history of an odyssey that takes him to that place, during a revolution, during a moment in history in a place where huge events are happening and real people are being crushed by it. The fact that we could follow somebody as an example of a revolution all the way through to the end.”
*  *  *
With Rogue One as the endpoint, Andor unspools a new prequel populated by average denizens of the galaxy. “There are a lot of characters in our show…everyone is going to be circulating and spinning and intersecting around the Cassian Andor story as we move towards Rogue One,” Gilroy adds. “It’s a potent moment in history and a lot of people are facing a lot of really difficult times and difficult decisions along the way.”

Andor | Adria Arjona Talks Star Wars Series' Complicated Romance
TVLine   Sep 19, 2022

Edited September 21, 2022 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Diego Luna did a Twitter Q&A yesterday - here are some of his responses...

Andor Red Carpet Launch Event | Disney+
Disney Plus   Sep 21, 2022

Diego Luna and the Cast and Crew of Andor | This Week! in Star Wars
Star Wars   Sep 22, 2022

The Cast of 'Andor' on Their Star Wars Characters | D23 2022 | Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly   Sep 22, 2022

Warning: spoilers for first three episodes...
Andor's Backstory Begins: Grade the First 3 Episodes of Star Wars Series
By Matt Webb Mitovich / September 21 2022
https://tvline.com/lists/andor-recap-season-1-episode-1-2-3-star-wars-series/ 

Edited September 23, 2022 by tv echo

[angora]

Diego Luna always kills it on late-night shows. Here he is on Kimmel and Corden.

[tv echo]

Inside Look of Episodes 1-3 | Andor | Disney+
Star Wars  Sep 26, 2022

Inside Line: Scoop on #OneChicago, Abbott Elementary, Ghosts, Andor, CSI, Blue Bloods, Rookie, Walker and More
By Matt Webb Mitovich / September 26 2022
https://tvline.com/lists/chicago-pd-season-10-spoilers-detective-promotions/   

Spoiler

Is that it for Bix on Andor? Is there any chance we’ll see her again? –Damon
“You’re going to have to keep watching!” hedged Adria Arjona when I asked the very same Q. “Bix has a true journey on this show, and she’s gone through so much. They killed [OMITTED WORD] in front of her, she’s been betrayed by this person she trusted, the person she did this for is no longer there, she’s injured, and she can almost sense what is about to come next.”

Edited September 28, 2022 by tv echo

[tv echo]

Diego Luna Talks Andor, Exclusive High Republic Short, and More!
Star Wars    Sep 29, 2022

[tv echo]

Andor Recap: What Are You Fighting For? — Plus, a Secret Is Revealed
By Matt Webb Mitovich / October 5 2022
https://tvline.com/2022/10/05/andor-recap-season-1-episode-5-cassian-secret/ 

[tv echo]

Inside Look of Episodes 4-6 | Andor | Disney+
Star Wars    Oct 18, 2022