Andy Serkis Reflects on Kino Loy’s Journey in ‘Andor’ and Reveals the Parts the Prisoners Were Building Are “Significant”
Andy Serkis’ involvement in Andor was a surprise to many, specifically because the actor had already played another high-profile role in two recent Star Wars films. His new character, Kino Loy, has been one of the highlights of the series though, and Serkis spoke to THR about Loy and what it was like to return to the Star Wars galaxy.
Unsurprisingly, Serkis was reluctant to return to Star Wars as a brand-new character, thinking it would only confuse and annoy people who might wonder if Kino Loy had a connection to Supreme Leader Snoke:
I thought it would cause complete uproar and more confusion for the audience, thinking that there would be some sort of connection between the Supreme Leader and Kino Loy. So that was my only [hang-up]. I thought, “Am I really going to go into this melee of uncertainty again?” but I was such a huge fan of Rogue One.
I really truly thought that it was a great film. So Tony Gilroy and I met, and he explained what he wanted to do with this character, this world and this particular segment of the world.
So, to play someone at the opposite end of the spectrum as the Supreme Leader and from a very human perspective, someone who’s coping with the Empire crushing his very soul, I just found that idea to be really exciting and really kind of intoxicating.
So once I got through the Snoke-theory quagmire, it didn’t take me long to commit.
Fans have been wondering what exactly Kino Loy, Cassian, and the other prisoners were building in the prison. One popular theory is that it doesn’t matter what they’re building and that we’re never going to find out, as another way of really hammering home how awful the Empire is. But according to Serkis, it is significant, and we may actually find out the answer sooner or later:
It actually does matter what they’re building because it’s significant. For those who are really watching closely, the parts are quite significant. If you really examine those bits that are being formed and created by all of the men on the floors, you’ll discover that they hold huge import.
He also took a moment to talk about his final line “Never more than twelve” in episode 9, and even delved into Kino’s backstory a little bit, something that wasn’t explored in the show:
Yeah, it’s the transitional moment for the character, and it was so beautifully written. It’s the arc of a man who’s become so desensitized and is only really looking after number one and just wants to get through his incarceration and his sentence.
He believes there’s an opportunity to get back to … We sort of set up this back-history that he had a family, that he was a factory worker, a shop steward and a foreman in his life outside of prison, but he was very vocal about workers’ rights. And then he forgot all about that as soon as he was in prison and just became a tough shell of his former self. He just wanted to get through the day. And in that moment that you are talking about, the scales fall from his eyes, and he re-engages with his truth and finds himself again.
Serkis had worked on the character’s backstory to the point he felt it was likely Loy was arrested while protesting, which makes his descent into the desensitized and brusque floor manager even more tragic:
Yeah, in my mind, he was vocally standing up for workers’ rights and that was seen as being unpatriotic in some way, or that he was stepping out of line and being a troublemaker.
Now, if you haven’t seen episode 10 of Andor, look away now. Spoilers abound…
When Kino reaches the exit of the prison, he reveals in a crushing development that he can’t swim, which is the only way out of the facility. It’s dropped on Cassian and the viewers in the final moments of their escape, but according to Serkis, this had been playing on Kino’s mind the whole time. He was deliberately sacrificing his life, knowing that he likely wouldn’t be able to escape with everyone else. This is why he struggled making his big speech earlier on, knowing that he couldn’t join them.
Yeah, absolutely. And that’s exactly why I wanted him to have been from a place of integrity prior to being in prison, and that the Empire — in all its cruelty and desensitization and its way of holding people down and divide and rule — has just knocked it out of him.
But then in [episode 10], he finds that desire to act on behalf of others again, to serve others, to enable others to find their freedom, even though he knows ultimately it’s not going to happen for him. So it really was a wonderful arc. It was a wonderful journey that I was able to go on with all that.
THR pointed out that it’s quite unusual to film in bare feet, and Serkis agreed that it made for a slightly unpleasant experience for those with a keen sense of smell:
It’s very musty. (Laughs.) When you think about it, there’s a lot of scenes where we’re standing in these long tubes and waiting for hours and hours and hours. And boy, those tubes got smelly. They got really rank, and the doors were sealed at each end. So it was like walking into a big test tube, basically, not to mention the Covid of it all. It was an interesting time.
The actor also revealed that Kino’s accent initially sounded very different from the rough English accent we know from the show. Initially, it was supposed to sound more Middle Eastern:
No, I actually tried an accent that was very similar to my father’s accent. My father was from Iraq, and he had a mild Middle Eastern accent. So it felt quite grounded and was working, but then we decided that it just might overcomplicate things. So, literally, on day one, we slightly backed away from it. It was really just exploration, I suppose.
So no, Kino Loy is not related to Snoke. He is a regular man with a tragic but heroic character journey, who inspired an entire prison to revolt and escape, despite knowing he couldn’t join them. When the interviewer asked what became of Kino Loy after the escape, Andy Serkis actually remained coy and tight-lipped about it.
Perhaps that wasn’t the last we’ve seen of Kino Loy after all.
Josh is a huge Star Wars fan, who has spent far too much time wondering if any Star Wars character could defeat Thanos with all the Infinity Stones.
