Diego Luna Explains How Cassian’s Decisions in ‘Andor’ Shape the Character Into Who He Is in ‘Rogue One’
In a new interview with Collider as part of Andor‘s awards season promotion, Diego Luna explained some of the pending questions from the first season, which has now wrapped airing on Disney Plus. The conversation ranged from Kino Loy’s death to his decision to kill Skeen, and how all of them, combined with what is coming in Andor season 2, will shape Cassian into the character we meet in Rogue One.
In the sixth episode, after the Aldhani heist has happened, Skeen (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) revealed his true self to Cassian, and in a spontaneous decision, Luna’s character shot him dead in the spot. The actor explained how this decision reflects Cassian’s acceptance of what it means to be part of a team:
“I would say he just went through the first time of [experiencing] actual teamwork in terms of trusting others with your life. He goes through that with this team and when he realizes he should have not trusted this person—how dangerous someone you can’t trust can be when you are trying to put together or organize something in terms of what you can do as a community. Basically, everyone else is to be trusted there. And having one leak is very dangerous. […] Faith is involved. You have to believe in the person next to you, not just that you can trust them, but that they will deliver.
He realizes that he’s been next to someone that would not put his hand there for him. And it’s interesting why or how fast the character makes choices that are going to define everything. I mean, that’s how the season starts, basically with him finding out he has to kill this person. This is the second time that it happens, and he tells you that he’s not afraid or scared of making a complicated choice like that, and he’s taking care of the whole team. […] He doesn’t know Nemik is gone, and he’s protecting them. He’s protecting them. He’s feeling part of a team for the first time.”
And that also speaks to Cassian’s character growth by this point:
“He’s protecting a team for the first time. A team he’s about to leave behind. But it’s that hint of like, ‘Oh, I’m part of something and I have to protect them.’
He’s someone capable of forgiving himself, which is something that makes people different. We all make mistakes, but if you give yourself a second chance, that says that you are someone special. This guy is like that. He’s not going to then go talk to someone, say like, ‘Look, Skeen was trying to do this.’ He makes the choice himself in a second, and he moves on. The conversation with himself is open. He’s honest to himself. I like that about this man. I don’t know.”
In the seventh episode, before he gets sent to prison, Cassian adopts a new alias, Keef Girgo. In the interview, Luna was asked why he chose that name, and though he didn’t give a proper answer, his words could hint at that name coming back in the second season:
“Let me think if I can answer that one. It took me a while to be able to pronounce that name. Keef Girgo. Nothing that you can connect with what you’ve seen so far.”
The tenth episode brought another character’s death to the series: that of Andy Serkis’ Kino Loy, one of the most memorable parts of the first season. As all the prisoners were leaving the facility, it was revealed that he didn’t know how to swim. Tony Gilroy has hinted that he may not be dead after all, though the series hasn’t brought him back yet. Speaking to Collider, Diego Luna revealed that, had Cassian known that Kino couldn’t swim, he would have definitely changed the escape plan. Kino knew that, and that’s why he didn’t say a word.
“He would have tried everything. Everything. Kino would have to push him to save him. [I] mean, we didn’t shoot any alternative endings, but I already started thinking about so many. I think probably if he hadn’t been pushed, Rogue One would’ve not been there.
I’ll tell you this. Kino doesn’t find out he doesn’t [know how to] swim just before jumping, right? Kino doesn’t say it because of a reason. I think these two know each other so well in that moment that Kino knows if Cassian would’ve known, he would change the plan and tried to come up with another idea, but not jumping to the open waters. I think Kino knows, and I think you should know. If you are saying you love the show, and you’ve seen the whole show, you should know.
I mean by this moment, this guy, he’s a team worker. He commits not just to ideas but to people. I think that’s the big, big lesson he gets in prison. That you are as strong as the connection with your team is. That’s where your strength is in that capacity we have to think bigger than just ourselves. Cassian could have grabbed the microphone and started giving the speech when he thinks Kino is not delivering, but he wants to see Kino deliver.”
When looking ahead at what the second season will bring, Luna explained how his character’s arc will conclude with the Cassian Andor we meet in Rogue One:
“[I] think what happens also after prison and in the next episodes is that he understands really what he’s fighting against. He understands the need [for] a revolution because he understands what oppression means basically and how little freedom he has and how unfair the world he lives in is. But there’s still so much for him to learn in terms of working as a team.
I think in the first season we see him trying to survive and which is not necessarily being part of something. It’s reacting to it. But now, yeah, he has to learn a lot from Luthen and from others, from other experiences, other events in order to be that person we meet in Rogue One.
The responsibility he takes on at the beginning of Rogue One is huge. Imagine what has to happen for someone to say he’s the right person to do it. Cassian Andor is going to be the person we’re going to trust with this. There’s a lot for him to discover and a big transformation to come. He’s really far from that. The one of episode 12, it’s so far from that, but the spark is there. There’s an awakening and it has happened. Now we need to witness four years of the life of this man.”
Andor season 2 began filming in the U.K. in late November, aiming for a release on Disney Plus in the second half of 2024. The main cast and crew are all coming back. It will be another batch of 12 episodes, covering the four years in between the events of season 1 and the beginning of Rogue One, with the final scene happening only moments before we meet Cassian in the film.
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.
