Diego Luna on ‘Andor’ Conclusion and the Impact of Season 1 on Season 2
Speaking at the Miami Film Festival this past Friday, where he accepted the inaugural Virtuoso Award from Variety, Diego Luna offered some insight into how he feels about Andor only having one more season, as well as how season 1 is impacting season 2.
Both Diego Luna and Tony Gilroy have not shied away from sharing their positive opinions on Andor’s limited run. As a fan, it’s always disappointing knowing there’s an end to the content you’re enjoying. However, in this day and age of multiverses, jampacked timelines, and interwoven narratives, perhaps it’s not such a bad thing that this prequel to a prequel knew where its finish line was from the start.
Speaking about his experience during production so far, Luna said:
“It’s been bittersweet because every day I know I’m a day closer to the end. It was really nice to approach a series knowing there’s an ending. It doesn’t happen! The new conversation on set with streaming is people talking about the possible future… Like, ‘Well, there might be a second season or a third season.’ This thing of leaving everything open I think is bringing anxiety to actors that needs to be treated. We’re all thinking about something that we can’t know.”
I can see how removing the ambiguity from the equation would put an actor at ease, even if the clarity is “that’s it.” Lucasfilm requires large commitments from the actors they sign on, which is a double-edged sword that we’ve heard franchise actors both rave and complain about time and time again. It’s a great opportunity, but it’s also very limiting, with actors not being able to sign on to other jobs for years depending on the scale of the projects. There’s also the element that this knowledge brings to production; actors are able to finetune their performance according to this information.
When asked about the impact this knowledge and the release of season 1 has had on the set of season 2, Luna explained:
“The second season ends where Rogue One starts. We’re not changing the ending of Rogue One so that’s it. It’s a nice feeling, it’s like a long film… It has a beginning and an end. We all know what’s going to happen. There’s something interesting with the second season, which is that I have a different feeling every day I go to set. Now I know, not just that the series was well received and that people liked it, but I know why they liked it. That’s another tool we have these days through social media. We actually listen to audiences and critics. We understand what things connected and what didn’t connect. It’s kind of cool to have an opportunity to go and execute another season having this information. It’s, in a way, a season that will end up representing the audience in a different way. Somehow, the audience is part of this season because the interaction we had served as inspiration.”
It’s encouraging to hear Luna describe such a carefully thought-out creative process during production that is inclusive of constructive audience feedback. I admit I’m a little surprised to hear this given Tony Gilroy’s famously aloof attitude toward pleasing the fans. Not that he doesn’t care about producing quality television, but he’s never exuded a fan-collaborative nature. Of course, while Gilroy is driving the train, he has said in the past he more or less leaves production up to his directors, so this is very much a team effort.
Regardless, it’s a nice change of pace to get some positive and solid news from a Star Wars project given the movie news from the past few days. For more updates on Andor, check out our latest report on the production of season 2 in Spain.
When she isn't watching her friends and family's eyes glaze over at the mention of The Clone Wars, she's at the park with her dog, Melvin, or on the couch with a book in one hand and a drink in the other. Physically, she lives in Ohio; spiritually, she lives in Naboo.
