Diego Luna and Genevieve O’Reilly on Why It Was Important To Tell the ‘Andor’ Story
Star Wars: Andor is now on the horizon, and as with every new Star Wars show, the cast and crew are out doing the press rounds and getting the word out about their latest project. In this case, Entertainment Weekly sat down with lead actor Diego Luna (Cassian Andor) and lead actress Genevieve O’Reilly (Mon Mothma), as well as executive producer Sanne Wohlenberg during Star Wars Celebration, and they’ve just released the conversation.
It is now available on podcast form (here), and the website published some of the highlights in writing. Luna explained how he was instantly excited to jump back into Cassian’s skin, even though he never thought he’d return to the Star Wars galaxy. He said:
“I remember living every day as if it was the last. I mean, I never thought of being part of this universe at all. I was just a fan, and one day I got a call. I thought it was going to be a one-time thing in my life, and I shared it with my kids, and I saw it. I was ready to move on. And then I was invited to [return for the show], and it made complete sense. I had so much more to say and do with this role. I just wanted to explore many things that I thought about while I was shooting that a film would never allow you to explore.”
From everything we’ve seen so far, it looks like Cassian will be as important to the story as Mon Mothma, whose backstory will also be explored in the series. We will get to see how she turned from a member of the Imperial Senate to Rebel leader, something that is very appealing to the actress, as O’Reilly explained:
“The idea of learning about this character — for me, as much as for anyone else — through a long-form narrative was really interesting. We have now the chance to get to know the woman. Previously, she was a bit of a pillar, or maybe a statue. I love that now we get to excavate that a little bit and learn about the human being — the woman behind the gown, if you will.”
Luna also added that, despite the title, this is not exactly a character study, but rather more of an ensemble series. In addition to exploring Andor’s character, we will also get to see the grittier aspects of the Rebellion from the inside, and how hopeless it was before the Battle of Yavin. He said:
“Even though it’s called Andor, it’s about a revolution. It’s an ensemble. It’s about a group of people. It’s about community. You’ll have the chance to meet many characters you don’t know and visit places you don’t know existed in this galaxy.”
According to Luna, there is plenty of story to tell:
“Behind everyone that has brought change, there’s a story, there’s a reason. And I just love that now we have 12 episodes to tell you that story.”
He is, of course, referring to the first season. Showrunner Tony Gilroy confirmed at the Celebration Stage that the series will be two seasons long, 12 episodes each. Empire Magazine revealed in their August issue that the scripts for both seasons are 1500 pages long, which averages around 60 pages per episode — using a basic rule of thumb to turn pages of script into minutes of screentime, we are probably looking at episodes between 40 and 50 minutes long.
Star Wars: Andor will debut its first two episodes on Disney Plus on August 31st. More content and marketing material are expected to come fast and furious in the next few weeks, so stay tuned!
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as movies from Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
